This weekend was my husband's much anticipated return from a business trip. I had finally cleaned up a week's worth of constant chaos and managed to not only shower but fix my hair for our midnight rendezvous.
Well, an evening spent in a steam shower with my croupy tyke wilted my hair and my hopes for a relaxing evening. Our night would have to wait until Saturday...
Saturday evening found us cozied up on the couch watching the NBA finals. (Had you forgotten how addicted my husband is?!?) We caught up on the various activities of the other's week while keeping one eye and ear fixed to the television.
Our chat was interrupted by the shrill wail of our home security system and an electronic voice warning us, "Fire". With racing hearts and raised hairs we jumped up and started a thorough search through the house for smoke or flames. The siren had since stopped and our search had turned up nothing. We relaxed a bit, assuming it was a false alarm or an electronic glitch on the system's part.
A few moments later, the same event repeated causing us to again race through the house. Our panic was increased and our fear escalating as I thought about making the right decisions. Do I wake the kids? Do I call 911? What do I do?!
Josh's second search had taken him into Emmanuelle's room which was abnormally warm. We keep a small space heater with a fan in her room to use as a noise blocker while she sleeps. The heat option is never used, only the fan. Someone had turned it on it's max temperature and it was blazing hot! Some new pillows that were still in their plastic packaging had also gotten thrown onto the floor in front of it. The plastic was hot as hades and starting to show signs of melting. Given a few more hours in the cover of darkness and it would surely have proven to be a fire hazard.
After the alarm went off for the second time, we called ADT to inquire about the meaning of the alarm. We have had many talks with them in the past for other false alarms, usually when we set it off by our own foolishness. They always know exactly what is going on because their computer allows them to see every zone in our home and any activity on our system is logged with them.
ADT had no record of our system going off.
No record of a fire warning.
No indication that there was any activity on our system at all.
Immediately Josh and I bowed our heads to thank the Lord for His warning. Praised Him for His goodness in protecting our family. Worshiped Him for His mighty power that could overide even a home security system for His own use.
We've always believed that God speaks to us. We've just never heard His actual voice before that evening.
The evening that He shouted "Fire" in an electronically simulated voice.
