Ed Pulaski knew it was time to run. In August 1910, gale-force winds swept two enormous wildfires together, leaving Pulaski and his firefighting crew trapped in a canyon in the middle of the inferno.
He gathered 45 panic-stricken firefighters, and raced ahead of the flames to an old mine tunnel. “The wind was so strong that it almost lifted men out of their saddles, and the canyons seemed to act as chimneys, through which the wind and fires swept with the roar of a thousand freight trains. The smoke and heat became so intense that it was difficult to breathe . . . The whole world seemed to us men back in those mountains to be aflame. Many thought that it really was the end of the world”(1).
The men had barely packed into the tunnel when the flames swept over their trail. As the fire raged outside, it sucked fresh air out. Fire gas and smoke poured in. Pulaski ordered the men to lie face down on the ground near a trickle of water unless they wanted to suffocate (2). Imagine their disbelief upon hearing survival against a one million acre firestorm depended on a dribble of water.
However, God’s work is unmistakable when the odds are impossible. Ridiculous-sounding methods of deliverance are described throughout the Bible. Just stand still, and the Red Sea will part (Exodus 14). Stand in the Jordan River while it is at flood stage, and watch the dry land appear (Joshua 3). Stroll around for seven days, throw in some trumpet tooting and yelling on the seventh day, and the most heavily fortified city in the world will collapse (Joshua 6). Dunk yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and that leprosy will clear right up (2 Kings 5). You’ve been an invalid for 38 years, but if you grab your mat and stand up, you can walk away (John 5). A little spit and dirt mixture over those eyes and a little wash at the Pool of Siloam will take care of that blindness (John 9). We’ll have leftovers tonight if you use these five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people (John 6).
No matter how dire the circumstances, He is always there with us offering life. When we have nothing else to cling to, He is there offering hope. When we can only wait anxiously, He is there offering deliverance. We just have to accept His offer to be delivered from all our fears (Psalm 34:4).
Pulaski’s men were offered a trickle. Even if his orders did not make any sense, they dropped to the floor of the tunnel. There, a thin layer of air wafted over the water, enabling the men to breathe and survive, and all but four of them did.
References
1. Pulaski, E.C. Surrounded by Forest Fires, My Most Exciting Experience as a Forest Ranger. American Forests and Forest Life, 1923.
2. Pyne, S.J. Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910. 2001.
He gathered 45 panic-stricken firefighters, and raced ahead of the flames to an old mine tunnel. “The wind was so strong that it almost lifted men out of their saddles, and the canyons seemed to act as chimneys, through which the wind and fires swept with the roar of a thousand freight trains. The smoke and heat became so intense that it was difficult to breathe . . . The whole world seemed to us men back in those mountains to be aflame. Many thought that it really was the end of the world”(1).
The men had barely packed into the tunnel when the flames swept over their trail. As the fire raged outside, it sucked fresh air out. Fire gas and smoke poured in. Pulaski ordered the men to lie face down on the ground near a trickle of water unless they wanted to suffocate (2). Imagine their disbelief upon hearing survival against a one million acre firestorm depended on a dribble of water.
However, God’s work is unmistakable when the odds are impossible. Ridiculous-sounding methods of deliverance are described throughout the Bible. Just stand still, and the Red Sea will part (Exodus 14). Stand in the Jordan River while it is at flood stage, and watch the dry land appear (Joshua 3). Stroll around for seven days, throw in some trumpet tooting and yelling on the seventh day, and the most heavily fortified city in the world will collapse (Joshua 6). Dunk yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and that leprosy will clear right up (2 Kings 5). You’ve been an invalid for 38 years, but if you grab your mat and stand up, you can walk away (John 5). A little spit and dirt mixture over those eyes and a little wash at the Pool of Siloam will take care of that blindness (John 9). We’ll have leftovers tonight if you use these five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people (John 6).
No matter how dire the circumstances, He is always there with us offering life. When we have nothing else to cling to, He is there offering hope. When we can only wait anxiously, He is there offering deliverance. We just have to accept His offer to be delivered from all our fears (Psalm 34:4).
Pulaski’s men were offered a trickle. Even if his orders did not make any sense, they dropped to the floor of the tunnel. There, a thin layer of air wafted over the water, enabling the men to breathe and survive, and all but four of them did.
References
1. Pulaski, E.C. Surrounded by Forest Fires, My Most Exciting Experience as a Forest Ranger. American Forests and Forest Life, 1923.
2. Pyne, S.J. Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910. 2001.
