God sometimes gives us unexpected gifts. Our gift has been a grandson who enlivens our lives and makes retirement very different than the one we anticipated. He is a special joy. And that's "Casey." In 2006 we fulfilled our dream of living in Italy for a year. It was every bit as wonderful as anticipated. This blog begins in 2005 as we prepared for that experience. Since then we have explored many places together. That's the "Travel." And finally, I am a person of opinions--spiritually, politically, on just about anything and that's the "Other Stuff." Welcome to my blog.

Friday, March 07, 2008

God Is Awesome

If you read my blog, you know that sometimes I write of my belief in God and my conviction of the truth of His message and His Word, the Bible. Because of this, I believe there are times when we are made aware of supernatural intervention in the expected course of events—sometimes major ones and sometimes not so significant. Today I am certain that I experienced such intervention in a personally major way; although, in the course of world events it was rather insignificant.

I was astonishingly careless and am now fortunate that my house still stands. I believe that it stands because of God’s unsurpassed power and that He gifted me.

This morning, in an attempt to be efficient and because chicken cacciatore tastes so much better after sitting for a while, I decided to prepare tonight’s meal—not my usual approach to meal preparation, let me say. I was beginning by heating a quarter cup of olive oil—which has a comparatively low smoke point before flaming—in a sauté pan. However, about the time I turned the burner on and poured the oil into the pan, I decided that I should complete an errand before starting to cook. Casey had forgotten his lunch and, being the nurturing grandparents that Ken and I are, we decided to take it up to school. At this point, I completely forgot about the oil. We locked the door and left, leaving the burners on.

At school I found tears—from the school secretaries. We are facing an enormous budget crisis in San Diego schools and many people are receiving notices of termination. Having been a school administrator before retiring and unexpectedly resuming parenting, I have faced such crises several times and it always hurts to see good people so devastated. So—I spent time listening to and consoling the women and then commiserating with the principal about the devastating impact the budget cuts will have on the children. I had all the time in the world; my only concern being that I was sure that Ken was becoming bored waiting for me.

I knew there was a problem as soon as I walked through the door to the house. At first I wanted to think that my dirty sun glasses were causing the blur that permeated the air but I really knew that wasn’t true—all this in a 10 second understanding of what had happened. Rushing into the kitchen, through the haze I could see the heat shimmering above and encircling the stove.

I was lucky that the oil hadn’t flashed and that fire hadn’t engulfed our very open style house.

I thank God that He was in charge and allowed my carelessness to not end in the disaster it should have. I am glad that He is an awesome friend.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy to hear that all was ok. Whew!

Anonymous said...

As you were taking the time to care for others, you and your home were being watched over. Glad all is okay!

Jane said...

Maryann and Janie, thanks for commenting. I wondered how this post would be received.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jane,

What a scary situation to come home to. I am glad you, your family, and home are all ok.

All that time that you were away, supporting others in a difficult place, and everything ending up well. HE definitely was on your side.

Anonymous said...

Jane,

You are so right. He is such a gracious friend....plenteous in mercy! So glad you did not come home to a disaster.

Tee

Jane said...

Tee, it's been a long time since we have chatted and it is good to hear from you. How are things going?

Gil said...

All I can say is that you were one lucky 'Girl'. I know of more than one person that has burnt their house down by leaving an unwatched pan of oil on a lit burner.

Anonymous said...

Jane - you were lucky. That could ahve been a real disaster.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, definitely a thank god moment!

Oh and on a smaller scale, I had one this morning. I went to read your blog, and you talked about cooking dinner in the AM, and I remembered I hadn't marinated our chicken for dinner tonight! So now that's that done, thanks for the reminder, ;), and glad you are all okay!

Jane said...

Kim, sure glad that I have been of help! :) See something good always comes!

Anonymous said...

Yes, you have someone watching over you. What a scare!
I also just checked the stove as I put Martha Stewart's meatloaf in the oven. I am really not a cook but this seems to turn out okay. So, this was a reminder for me, as well. J.

Anonymous said...

hi Jane, I found you in a search for "protestant worship in Italy" because my husband and I are Christians who will soon be in Italy for 6 months. i've really enjoyed your blog so far, and i hope you don't mind if i tag it on mine: jaimeclewis.wordpress.com. Jaime

Jane said...

Jaime, you're going to Italy for 6 months.....lucky you. We get to go back for two months this summer--not nearly long enough. Casey needs to keep his Italian going.

Of course, link to my blog. I would be honored. I'll check yours out.

Finding protestant churches in Italy is difficult and in many areas they just don't exist.

Feel free to contact me with any questions as you plan. If you go to my website (in sidebar) you can find an e-mail address to write to.