Current Lesson No. Sixteen
Lightning, Fire, and Things that Matter Most
Lightning started a fire that burned down our home in St George Utah – When we returned from our assignment in the Louisville Kentucky Temple in November 2014 we purchased a lovely home at Sun Brook in St George Utah. While this home was not showy, it was beautiful, comfortable, and well-located. Our family loved this home and used it often.
At 6:30 pm Saturday April 7, 2018 a huge thunder and lightning storm with heavy rain and powerful winds hit our neighborhood in St George, and a very powerful lightning strike hit our home. This started a fire which smoldered in the attic for 10 hours until it broke through the roof. With the additional oxygen our home was immediately engulfed in fire.
The first report of the fire came from a quarter of a mile away, across the Santa Clara River and the Black Rock golf course. A minute or two later our windows blew out awakening our neighbor who gave 911 the address of the fire. When the fire fighters arrived our home was lost, but fortunately they were able to protect our neighbor’s homes.
We received a call from a neighbor at 5:00 am Sunday morning telling us what was happening. We left for St George and arrived at our destroyed home in time to meet with the fire captain. He said that the lightning strike was powerful enough not only to start the fire smoldering, but it also destroyed the electrical wires to the street. He said that lightning occasionally hits a home, but rarely does it burn a home to the ground. In our case it was the “perfect storm” powerful enough to keep our neighbors indoors and because there was no one in our home the fire went undetected for 10 hours.
Things that matter most – We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on March 15, 1968. Our children had a wonderful 50th anniversary celebration for us at the Cottonwood Club where we held our wedding reception 50 years before. Spring break was the first week of April, and 31 members of our family went to St George to watch LDS General Conference and to continue the celebration. We spent much of the following week together at our home. The lightning hit two days after we had all left St George.
If the lightning had hit three days earlier our family would have been in the home, and certainly there would have been dire consequences. The result is that that our home and its contents are lost (we will re-build and replace), but what matters most is that our family was preserved unharmed.
“Father, what would Thou have our family learn from this experience?” – We conclude with counsel to our children and grandchildren (our friends are invited to listen in).
We have begun, individually and together, to ask our Father in Heaven what He wants us to learn from this experience. We invite you to do the same. Already, our perspective is becoming focused and our understanding is being increased. We know the following, and we believe we will be given more:
- The Lord has blessed us in preserving our family from harm
- The Lord will continue to bless us as we put our trust in Him
- People and families are eternal and far more important than things which are all temporary
- From time to time we need experiences that cause us to loosen our grip on the things of this world
- Mortality is a time of testing. This testing often comes through adversity
- Adversity can make us stronger, therefore, our response to adversity is very important
- Adversity causes people to either harden or soften their heart (see Alma 62:41)
- Righteousness is the best response to all adversity
- The passage of time, sometimes more and sometimes less, will relieve all adversity
- Our adversity is minor compared to people we minister to in our calling at the University Hospital
- If our response to this experience is right the Lord will strengthen us individually and as a family
We are so grateful for your goodness!! We love you so much!! Mom & Dad/Grandma & Grandpa