I was 4 when my grandmother’s house burnt down.  I remember two things vividly from that day.

I remember my uncle Skip standing at the stove trying to put the fire out and yelling for me and my cousin to go to the neighbor’s house.

I thought Skip was a hero.  The fire proved it.

I also had a brand new tool box.  It was made out of metal and it went everywhere with me.

  
After the fire, we stood in front of the remains of grandma’s house and I saw what is forever burned into my memory:  There was a scorched rendition of a couch with a blackened tool box fused onto the top.

My toolbox survived!

I went there first.  Opened up the toolbox to see my prized hammer, screwdriver, wrench, tape measure (that was my favorite)…

My hammer had a plastic handle.
Screwdrivers – plastic handles.
Everything else was made almost completely out of plastic.

I opened the toolbox to see a soup-like melted mass of tools and a hammer head.

Fire will prove our metal / mettle.
Fire will let everyone know what we have inside.

Fires come often. In every relationship. In every community. In almost every circumstance.

When the fire burns around you, I pray you have something fire-proof in your toolbox.

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.”