A Sign

"...There are stories of coincidence and chance and intersections and strange things told and which is which and who only knows. And we generally say, "Well if that was in movie I wouldn't believe it." Someone's so and so met someone else's so and so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that strange things happen all the time...and so it goes and so it goes. And the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."

-Magnolia-

Something happened a few years ago which I have told only a few people. But events in my life have gotten me thinking about it again so I'm here to tell anyone that will listen.

I was standing in the engine bay watching a terrible thunderstorm. It was early summer and about mid-afternoon. The skies were purple and the trees were white as their leaves turned over in the wind. The lightning and thunder were building but still a ways away.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning creased the sky directly in front of me. It appeared to hit in the neighborhood across the street from the station. I ran inside (fearful of getting struck) and to warn everyone else that we were about to get a call.

It wasn't but a minute later that the bell went off dispatching us to a house on fire hit by lightning in the direction of the strike that I had witnessed.

Even though we were on scene within four minutes, all of that heavy rain had stopped. Neighbors were in the street pointing to a house which didn't show any immediate signs of fire. When I got out and talked to them they reported that lightning had struck a tree in the front yard of the house and that smoke had been seen coming from the gable vent near the tree.

Now lightning and fire can both do amazing things especially when they're working together. The neighbors went on to explain that the house was empty; the homeowner was at work.

We went to work laddering the roof and looking into all of the windows for any sign of smoke or flame. I walked around the house looking into each window, but like most windows you can only see around the blinds or curtains, etc.

As I got around the front of the house with nothing out of the ordinary to report, one of the guys on the roof called for me to come up and check something out. They hadn't been able to find any signs of fire but directed me to an attic vent and told me to take a long whiff. I could smell a scented candle. It was very distinct. Not exactly what you expect of a house struck by lightning and reported to be smoking prior to our arrival.

Now, we don't go breaking down doors unless we have to. And in this situation I didn't want to find myself explaining breaking down a door to a homeowner who might not like his nosey neighbors.

We can't explain the fragrant smell but the house doesn't appear to be in any danger at the moment. I decide that we're done here, and as I'm about to start climbing down the ladder, Lil' Cap (the guys gave him that name, not me) comes running around the house to the front and calls for our medic bag.

I follow him to the back deck and he promptly kicks it in. There isn't anyone that I can see but he charges in and then moves into an adjacent room to a sofa where a man is unconscious. Cap would later tell me he saw just the end of the man's foot through the slats of the blinds.

We start our assessment and find the man completely unresponsive. His blood sugar reading is so low that the monitor doesn't read numbers; he's in a diabetic coma and without sugar immediately might suffer irreversible brain damage or die. A few minutes later, after administering some sugar the man comes around. He explains that he is a friend of the homeowner's that is staying with him for a few days and that he is a diabetic. That explained his condition and the fact that the neighbors didn't think anyone was home. The rest is what I couldn't explain.

I couldn't explain how we got there, but only recount the events: We were led to the house by a lightning strike, delayed on scene by the smell of a candle long enough for Cap to look through a window that had been looked into by at least five different firefighters and see just the man's toes on the couch in a room with no windows.

Now I'm not a very religious man. I have always professed a belief in God and like many have been plagued with doubts. But that day was a turning point for me and I hope it was a turning point in that man's life. Like I told him as he sat on the couch, "God wants you alive."

That's it. I'm not testifying or anything. But take it for what you want. And it really happened, just like I said. So chalk it up to coincidence if you want to. Call it a series of random events that I have connected like a run of dominoes. Just remember this - dominoes still require someone to knock the first one down.