A Firewall

You may have missed it in all the focus on the financial crisis, election follow-up and presidential transition, but a Christian college campus in California is the victim of the Montecito Tea Fire, which to date has destroyed over 800 homes and forced the evacuation of over 26,000 endangered people.

Westmont College in Santa Barbara is celebrating the deliverance of all faculty, staff and student lives while enduring the pain that eight structures, including dormitories and several educational buildings, are gone, and 16 faculty homes are burned to ashes. Memories are all that’s left.

The wild fire, fanned by 60- to 70-mile an hour winds, swept down a slope with such velocity that 800 students had to literally drop whatever they were doing to seek immediate refuge in the concrete block gym as the fire raged by. Tornado-like tongues of flame sliced through the campus, quickly turning homes and campus buildings into infernos and then smoldering cinders. Precious keepsakes were left behind as 41 faculty members and their families fled their campus homes. Sixteen of them would find nothing left when returning later, and thirty-five students also lost their rooms and belongings.

In the gym, some cried, others prayed and sang, and a few called home on their cell phones. A gas line failed, cutting off power to the campus. The gymnasium refuge was difficult but safe as sweltering heat made students sweat, smoke seeped in and ash even fell through the vents. The fireproof concrete walls divided the flames and protected the students with an incombustible shield.

By daybreak, the temporary gym tenants emerged, like Noah after the flood, to view an entirely different campus world. No life was lost through the perilous night, in great part because routine fire drills had prepped the student body for such a time as that, and they obediently raced to their prescribed refuge.

The many spiritual lessons they have learned are now seared into their memories. First, flee at once when the warning is given. Had they tarried in disbelief or lingered to rescue favored keepsakes, there would be casualties to mourn. If rigorous drills had been lacking, funerals would be planned instead of only structural rebuilding.

The fiery incident is loaded with biblical illustrations. Lot was told to exit Sodom before the fire fell and escaped with his life and his daughters, losing his wife because she turned to fix her gaze on things under fiery judgement. In a contrasting physical sense, Noah and his family boarded the ark and floated in a wooden chest that kept the flood waters outside.

Isaiah 43:2 promised God’s pilgrims, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

The chorus of the old hymn "God Leads His Dear Children Along" picks up that theme. "Some through the waters, Some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the blood; Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song; In the night season and all the day long."

The indifferent wealthy man in Luke’s gospel found himself "tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24), a fate that was totally avoidable had he heeded Moses and the prophets who pointed to Christ as God’s eternal fire escape. Romans 8:1 promises, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Westmont students will never forget the deflecting concrete walls that stood between them and fiery death. Christ, our great deliverer, is a sturdy firewall between believers and the judgment we deserve in our sinful selves. "He tasted death for every man," as Hebrews 2:9 says. A children’s Sunday School song says it all. "God’s judgment cannot fall on me, I’m covered by the blood you see. Jesus died on the tree, and His blood covers me. God’s judgment cannot fall on me."

Dave Virkler

You can find more information on the fire and recovery at Westmont’s website: www.westmont.edu.