Standsure Ministries

The tongues of men and angels being heard – spoken – by me. But not out loud, I perceived it was that great inner voice that was speaking this heavenly dialect. Inside of me it seemed to stay, this language not of men, and yet so loud within… Hmm. I was swimming through a thick body-temperature substance that I concluded was the water of some great ocean. An ocean of splendor and beauty with reflective colors as I swam excitedly to see the next variation of light and color and then formations unlike anything I’d ever seen or thought. Words simply could not convey the slightest of descriptions of the things that I was seeing – witnessing.

The language of heavenly hosts still fountained from my innermost parts as I swam on – never conscious of the fact that I was breathing deeply and consistently under water without any need to surface for air. Strength arose and every muscle, tendon and ligament was rejuvenated by the moment. Moving more gracefully than any dolphin I’ve ever seen on video with a building ecstatic feeling that there was more to see, to feel, to hear, to taste and to declare.

The tongue of an heavenly language that I knew could be understood by those who were the watchers of my antics, for somehow I knew that I was being watched with loving sets of eyes that hoped for my revelation of things untold to man before. And then…

The lights. The obnoxious loud and blaring noise of the klaxon detestably awakening me – or should I say, forcing me to arise from my dream world where I slumbered in body but where my spirit had soared so freely.

Robotically my feet came from the bedding to the bunking boots set up for a purpose. The straps seemed to automatically go over my shoulders because of the rote response to the clanging gong and lights that darkened my dream world.

To the rig I ran. This shiny bright red giant that had flashing lights with siren and blaring blasts of the atrocious sounding air horn. We weren’t on the road but for a minute and I could look to the hillside and see the glow and column of smoke. A driver and an officer in the cab, while I held on for dear life to the chrome bar on the tailboard of that fire truck.

It was a clear and star filled night and it only enhanced the immensity of the structure fire that was fully involved with flames shooting out all sides. As we pulled up, the other companies were arriving only seconds after us. It was a four or five story tenement, which was built on a hill going down from the street level that we were on. One of those stories of the building went below the street level but had a daylight entrance on the downhill side.  Then came the command from the officer to pull hose and then where to place it. I took the hose line into the front of the building, crawling on my belly with the hose and looking for the seat of the fire in order to extinguish its heat and flame. The damage to the building by either the fire or some other force had weakened its flooring and I felt a shift under me. I stood to leave the hose and run back but that was the last thing I remembered of being in that fiery furnace.

I saw a door in front of me that was half open and seemed to be barely hanging on its hinges. I gave it a pull and walked out into the cool of the evening with the stars glowing as I listened to the destruction of fire and equipment to the rest of the facility. I lingered but a moment to think, “What just happened?” I remembered clearly standing up to run and then seeing the door of escape but I am two stories down from where I entered the building in the first place. A mystery, but I have a job to do.

I climbed the side hill and came around the back of the firefighting equipment where my crew were just standing in a daze. They took a look at me as if I were a ghost. They looked back toward the building and then turned to stare at me again. The mixed emotions of their voices and questions told me that they thought I was dead. They said they saw the floor collapse with me and the whole floor that I was on exploding into an inferno with no bottom to it. I could only tell them that I saw a door to the outside and I walked through it.

When the incident was finished the fire was extinguished and the clean up started. Our company was exhausted. Another company was sent in to help and we were sent home to maintain our equipment and rest.

The morning was dawning. It was a cool summer morning. Our engine company was heading back to the station, driving toward the east – toward the rising of the sun. It was peaceful. It was beautiful. I surveyed the sunrise over the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and Lake Washington.

I said, “That’s awesome, Lord! You are awesome, Lord!” You can talk pretty loud to God when you are on the back of a fire truck that is driving down the road. No one hears. At that time of day, there was no one awake to listen anyway…

Then I remembered the happenings of the night. I said, “That was a close one back there, wasn’t it, Lord?” His reply to me was not only unexpected but it was so loud, and it seemed as though it was coming from behind me. I thought it was the audible voice of the Master. His voice in reproof of my question – statement was, “No! It was NOT close!”

“It is NEVER close when I AM there with you!” He stated emphatically. He continued, “When I AM with you, death is never around and never possible.”

“Okay,” I replied. “I thank You for being with me.” My heart was grateful not that I was living but that I was alive with Him.

Later that day, I picked up my Bible and read the eleventh chapter of John where the story of Lazarus is told. Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

This scripture came to life in me. I see that He makes up the difference in life. Now I understand that death has no sting and the grave has no victory.

“Fear not,” He says. “For I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, for you are Mine!”