A neighborhood explosion

What started as a nice chat with a friend at a local coffee shop last Saturday, turned into a very eventful day. Lindsay called me while I was sipping coffee and told me she was scared because Phil was outside in the driveway and there were people with guns going to blow up things.

"What?!" was my initial response. After talking to Phil, he assured me there was a small issue of a man in a house with a "gas issue". He told me not to worry, enjoy my fellowship and coffee and to take my time.

As I drove into my driveway, I immediately knew from the sheer number of emergency vehicles and news team all over the neighborhood that this was more than a small issue. These pictures are from the front of our house.





Apparently there was a disgruntled man 5 houses down that had been evicted from his home because of a divorce situation and he was refusing to leave. Not only that, he had opened up the gas line into his home and was threatening to blow up the house. And yes, Lindsay was correct. She had seen guys with guns. They were called the SWAT team.....

As Phil was telling me this unbelievable story, we felt and heard a rather loud boom.

I asked, "What was that?"

"That sounded like a gas explosion, " Phil calmly, but emphatically answered.

We walked next door where we could get a better look, and sure enough, there had been an explosion in the home. And the word was the man that was threatening to do it was in the basement when it happened.

A closer look.

A few hours later as the emergency workers moved debris around, the smoke and the fire engulfed the home.

We watched from a close distance as the firefighters attempted to put the fire out, but also tried to keep the neighbors home from igniting.

Here is some brief video coverage as it was burning.

The barricades were set up right by our house so we experienced much traffic throughout the day. One of our firefighter friends was working the situation and we told him to stop by our house at any time if he needed dinner.

When the doorbell rang later that evening, I was totally expecting Mike, but instead it was the Channel 13 newscaster we had watched earlier in the evening. His request? An interview. Phil said, "No way!" and walked back into the kitchen where we were frosting Timothy's birthday cake. I wish I could say I stuck to my initial "no" answer, but he (and the kids) talked me into it. Here is my 5 seconds of fame.

We were astounded to hear that the man had survived the explosion, the smoke and the fire. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital around 6:00 pm but he died shortly later.

How very sad that someone would have such hopelessness that he would rather die and destroy a home than give it to an ex-wife. We used the situation to talk honestly with our kids about selfishness, anger and revenge.

Material possessions and happy relationships will never ultimately satisfy anyone, but only faith in Jesus Christ's atoning death for salvation which gives the hope for eternal life in spite of any and all of life's difficulties.