|
Don't Disconnect the Alarm
|
Don’t Disconnect the Alarm
When I got back home from church on Sunday, the fire alarm inside Hapless was blaring. Poor Belle looked frantic. I couldn’t see or smell any smoke so I tried to turn the alarm off. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the cover off of the fire alarm to disconnect the alarm.
Finally, Belle and I went for help. I found a man whom I had seen working around the campground and who looked like he might know more than I did about fire alarms. “Can you help me? My alarm is going off and I can’t get the cover off to remove the battery,” I said in my best helpless female voice.
“I wondered what that noise was,” he said as he walked over to the camper.
“How long has it been going off?” I asked.
“About 15 minutes,” he answered.
I felt better when we got back to the camper because it took him several minutes to remove the faceplate. It was stuck but he finally got it off. “Is this also the alarm for the gas?” he asked
“No,” I said. “I checked that alarm first and it’s fine. This is just a smoke detector. Do you see any smoke?”
“Nope, I don’t,” he said. “It’s most likely broken.” I thanked him, put the battery up, and left the cover off the alarm. I made a mental note to discuss it with my husband.
I started washing dishes and smelled something burning. I looked over my sink to find a hole burned into the faceplate of the sink light. I touched the faceplate (not one of my better ideas) and blistered my finger. I turned off the light, let it cool down, and removed the faceplate. The poor fire alarm was doing its job and we had disconnected it. The maintenance man had heard the fire alarm and had ignored it. Belle wasn’t ignoring it but couldn’t do anything about it. I won’t be leaving lights on the next time I leave the camper.
There is a spiritual lesson here. I met a young woman struggling with the guilt and shame of too many parties, drugs, and men. Her depression had reached a point where she could no longer function so the doctors heavily medicated her and hospitalized her for suicide prevention when necessary. I grew up around mental illness and didn’t see it in her. I saw someone bent low and beaten from the ravages of sin. “Did you tell the doctors what you just told me?” I asked. “Did you tell them about the drugs and the men?”
“I did but they didn’t think it was that bad. They think I’m manic depressive,” was her answer.
“But it is that bad. The Bible says sexual sins do us the most damage because they are sins we commit against ourselves. Look what it’s doing to you. It was the first thing you talked about and always on your mind. The Bible calls the lifestyle you are leading darkness. You are suffering from darkness of the soul and Jesus can help if you will let him,” I pleaded. “He could make you whole and He will forget your past.” I could tell she wasn’t listening. The drugs the doctors were giving her were easier than dealing with changing her lifestyle.
I believe her depression is the alarm that something needs to change in her life and the doctors are trying to disconnect that alarm. If I had left that camper light on long enough, my camper might have caught fire. The alarms in this young woman’s life are stronger than any medication made. If she chooses to ignore those alarms, eventually she will go up in flames. Please pray for her.
Eph 5:6-14
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says," Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead,And Christ will shine on you." NASU
|
|