It's a good thing we went Christmas Caroling.

Some of you might remember one of my blog posts called, "It's a good thing I ride my bike at midnight". December 8th (just 18 days ago) was one of those kinds of nights. But I didn't know it. Until tonight.My neighbors came over for a surprise visit just minutes ago. They had a plate filled with cookies, which is always nice.

Since they live in the house behind ours, I rarely see them. In fact, I don't think they've ever been over to home before. The couple of times we talked, I found out that the wife's name is "Tricia". This is easy for me to remember (even though she spells it the wrong way). :-)

On Dec 8th, a group of about 20 of us from Sovereign Joy Community Church went caroling in my neighborhood. When the group arrived they grabbed some hot coco, we said a prayer, got our gloves and snow caps on and off we went. We sang from house to house rather quickly. One song per home. A nice neighbor came out and was so grateful that she hugged several of the kids that were with us. A few doors opened. Only one shut on us. Never to open again. But we left 180 DVD's and tracts with popcorn on the doorstep anyway.I had forgotten about one particular house until tonight.

We approached it to sing and I got a rather large whiff of gas. Hmmm...that was strong. I thought.

I turned to my friend Lisa and said, "Did you smell that?"

"Yes!" She said. "That was strong." She added.

After we sang our song, everyone walked to the next house but I hurried up to the door step and said, "Tricia, it's me Trisha. It's great to see you. I hope you enjoy the DVD and other goodies. I don't know if you're aware of this, but I smelled gas pretty strongly near your curb. And so did a friend of mine from our group. You might want to call and have the gas company come out right away. They'll do it for free."

"I'll call right away, thank you so much, Trisha." Tricia said.

18 days later.

I'm answering emails. The door bell rings. Baby goes nuts. I turn the porch light on.

"Emilio, it's our neighbors!"

Emilio hurries to the door. And opens it.

"Hi you guys." We greeted them. "It's great to see you." I added.

We shook hands.

"We wanted to come over to tell you thank you…Thank you for telling us about the gas leak." Tricia said.

"Really?" I inquired. "What happened!?" I asked.

"We had a very big leak in our attic." She answered.

“We had our roof worked on and the roofers must have done something.” She added.

"It was so bad that when we opened the attic door, Tricia almost passed out. And we were without gas for 3 days while the gas company fixed it." Mr. C added.

As they handed us the cookies they said, "Thank you for saving our lives!”

That quick death can snatch us. We must be ready to meet our Maker. I thank God for his grace on this dear family. And as they were leaving I asked Tricia, “Did you get to watch 180?” “Yes, it was very good and my daughter liked it too. Thank you very much.” She said.

Life is slippery. You don't know what today will hold. But for the Christian, we know Who holds today and tomorrow. Continue to trust in him, dear Christian. He is good at all times. God is in control and does all things for His Glory and for the believers good. If you've been born again, you can trust that God will work out everything for the good in your life, even a gas leak, even your sin, even your suffering, even every mistake that you’ve made, all your past hurt and bad choices (Romans 8:28).. He will bring beauty out of every trial. There is security for you in Jesus Christ. He is a strong tower for you (Proverbs 18:10).

If you are reading this and you have not repented and turned from your sins and received Christ as your Savior, please don't wait another minute to be reconciled to God, tonight. Fling yourself on the mercy of God. It's not too late (http://fishwithtrish.com/areyousaved.php).

"Sinners are often shocked when death comes close to them. It’s as though they had never taken the time to face reality. One of the first signs of an awakening soul is that they face their own mortality--that life itself is a slippery place." – Ray Comfort

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1