quite a scare

"BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!" The alarm cut through the stillness of the night, quickly rousing my husband and I out of an already-deep sleep. The clock read 10:45 p.m.

"What is it?" I asked, sleepily stumbling out of bed.

"The carbon monoxide detector," he responded. That news put an extra sense of urgency in my steps and I tried as hard as I could to think. What should we do? I could hear my 11-year-old from his bedroom, asking if we should get out of the house.

I found my way downstairs, grabbed my phone, and looked through our phone book, trying to find the number to call for the fire department. All I could find was 911. "Isn't that for emergencies?" I wondered, hesitant to call and not yet understanding this WAS an emergency. By now my husband was downstairs, monitor in hand, and we watched as the numbers on the digital display clicked down to zero. Not knowing what else to do, I dialed 911.

After a quick chat with the dispatcher, we quickly got the kids out of bed, into their coats, and out of the house per her directions. My husband backed the van out of the garage and we waited for the fire truck to arrive. (This, of course, was the best part of the whole day for my 3-year-old!)

After checking our house, the firemen discovered high levels of carbon monoxide on the second floor, in the bedrooms where we had just been sleeping. After enjoying a fire in our fireplace, the damper had been shut prematurely, causing the CO gas to build up. The firemen told us if we hadn't gotten out when we did, things would have been bad. They congratulated us on having one of the best CO detectors on the market, a Kidde NightHawk with a digital display. We had bought our house from a fireman who knew what he was doing when he installed this monitor in our home. We are grateful for his wisdom.

Thankful to be alive and well, I have spent the past few days pondering this event and what might have been. Here are some lessons I hope to pass on to others.

1. Make sure you have a CO detector. We most likely owe our lives to the one we have. There is only a difference of about $15 between a basic detector and the best on the market. Don't be afraid to splurge on something that may be the difference between life and death. I can't tell you how many people in the past few days have said to me, "After we heard your story, we checked to make sure we had a detector and checked to make sure it works." If our incident helps anyone else, it was worth it.

2.What you don't know can hurt you. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer because the gas is odorless and invisible. We literally staked our lives and health on the effectiveness of a carbon monoxide detector. If we had a faulty detector, no matter how certain our trust in it, it would not have saved. Or, if we had known a detector may help us one day, but hadn't acted on that knowledge by having one, the results may have been disastrous.

Mankind suffers from an even worse killer: sin. We are all infected and though most of us may be aware of its effects at some level, there are countless people all around the world who need to know there is a Savior. What they don't know about Christ will affect their lives for eternity. Those who hear and are willing to stake their lives on His promise of deliverance from sin will be saved from eternal death.

3. Our lives are not our own. I realize with a new awareness that I am utterly dependent on God for life, even for my next breath. I am thankful for His love and care, and trust He has a purpose in giving us more time on this earth. I wrote to a friend this week, "I pray this is my 'wake-up call' to give all of my life 100% to the gospel, so long as I have a life to give." Out of gratitude to Him, I want my life and my family's life to be ever devoted to living for God's kingdom and glory. Yet truly my greatest gratitude is not for our protection this past Saturday night, but that God has raised me to newness of life in Christ. My life already belongs wholly to Him.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Phil. 1:21