Praise our God, all peoples,   let the sound of his praise be heard; ....   we went through fire and water,   but you brought us to a place of abundance. 

Psalm 66

This October marks one year since four Sower couples were sitting at the table in the dining hall at Rockin' C Ranch when Henry's cell phone rang out. "There's a fire in the parking lot!" he shouted, startling everyone as they were just finishing lunch.    

The men sprang to action, racing out the door, across the pond and up the hill to do what they could to fight the fire in, what turned out to be, our much loved 2007 Montana 3400RL 5th wheel.

 As I headed out of the dining hall I took my camera out of my pocket thinking, "whoever's fire that is, they'll probably want pictures!" In retrospect it was a good thing to have. It kept me busy taking pictures as our RV was consumed in flames.  

Several days later I checked the time each photo was taken and was aghast to discover only 26 minutes had passed from the first photo to the last: a bare metal frame where the floor of our bedroom had been, and smoldering ashes the entire length of the rest of the vehicle. 

The local volunteer fire department arrived at the scene in just eleven minutes, but the intensity of the flames made it impossible for them to save anything. Even though the fire marshal spent hours on site, it was not determined for sure what the cause was. 

We tell our story to alert all our Sower friends to, please, have a plan of escape! Remember those fire drills back in grade school? Have a fire drill now! Know which windows are escape windows. Try them out. Know how to release the windows so you can escape......learning how escape windows work, perhaps in the dark, as a room fills with smoke is not the best atmosphere for learning!! Have flashlights nearby in several locations in the RV. Be sure the batteries are charged. Practice leaving your RV in a hurry. 

We are thankful no one was hurt. Only "things" were lost. Our motto in life has been, "Hold lightly all things not eternal." We still believe that.

But the blessing in the midst of this horrible scene and for weeks afterwards, was the outpouring of love from our Sower family and the staff of Rockin' C Ranch. We were overwhelmed by your encouragement and generosity. You fed us, clothed us, literally, and loved us through a difficult time. That makes us miss joining you on projects all the more. As many of you know, we are working at Sunbury Christian Camp near Durban, South Africa doing many of the same things we all do as Sowers. We left September 19th and plan to return March 21, 2012. We covet your prayers as we serve our LORD in this new place.

Many blessings,

Dick & Laurel Beem #2840

P.S. If you would like to hear about our ministry while we're in South Africa, shoot us an email and we'll keep you posted.  sonbeemld@yahoo.com.  

And plan that fire drill today!