On Fire for Bible Study

I am a part of Bible Study Fellowship International. It is a fairly intense study with lots of structure for both the ladies that attend as well as our children. Attendance is a big deal and doing the homework is as well. In fact, if you have not answered a question on your lesson in writing, you cannot add to the discussion while that question is being answered in your group. Even the little kids learn discipline. They walk quietly to the bathroom while holding onto a rope (to keep them all together), they learn Bible verses and they hear the same (age appropriate) story we do in the grown up class. It is such a blessing.

As you can imagine, it is rare, if ever, that we have a disruption to the schedule. Class is never canceled unless the weather is horrible. It always starts on time and all most always ends right on time. If you are more than 15 minutes late, you are not allowed to enter your discussion group and have to wait to enter until the lecture starts.

This week, after dropping the kids off and attending hymn time with the large group, I broke off and headed to my class room. My discussion leader was there and my classmates trickled in. As we began to get settled, we all heard the same thing and stopped in our tracks. We all looked at each other with quizzical faces and thought out loud...."Is that the fire alarm?" Yep, it was. It is kind of sad that there are so many false alarms and drills these days that when an alarm does go off, we all speculate as to whether or not we should leave.

So, Wendy, my discussion leader, went out into the hall to get the scoop. She came back and said we need to leave! Anyone with a baby, please go get them. I ran down the stairs and grabbed Georgia from one of the care givers and followed the crowd outside.

The older kids were already out side with their classes. The teachers were doing a great job of keeping them entertained. They didn't really know what was going on. As we all began to gather outside and wonder if the building was indeed on fire (it is a very large church) and if we would be continuing with class, I took in the sights around me.

I HAD to laugh out loud! It was quite the site! Women were streaming out of the building and gathering in different areas. They ranged from prim and proper southern ladies with hats to ladies with jeans and sweatshirts on (and likely no makeup). It was COLD too (snow storm by the time we eventually left for the day) and we were all huddled together. However, the children and all the moms with babies were together in the CEMETERY! It was the most logical place for us to go. No one really thought about it at the time. However, once the older kids started playing ring around the rosie, head and shoulders, follow the leader and so on, while they marched and ran around grave stones it was a sight to behold.Nothing was disrespectful or distasteful...it was just a humors thing to see.

After the fire department arrived and cleared the building, we were able to get back to the morning ritual, a condensed version. There was indeed a fire in the kitchen but it was easily contained and I don't believe there was any damage.