Of Fireworks, Man, and God

Not sure if my title makes much sense... but perhaps by the end of my post it will.

2 days ago this nation celebrated the 4th of July, our Independence Day.  I haven't celebrated this holiday in many years as I have been living too far away from friends and family and have opted to work since lighting off fireworks by yourself is sort of... well.. lonely.  This year, having just moved to Chicago, my plans were to continue unpacking initially but then my Cousin who lives an hour away invited me to join his family as they celebrated with some of his work/church friends.  Hard decision... I know... keep unpacking or go enjoy some good food and company followed by a fireworks show.  I readily agreed and pushed off the final unpacking for later (I will get to it... one of these days... honest I will). 

So, off I went and the celebration was a fun, relaxing, and family oriented event.  We met with the Christiansen (sp?) family around 3:30, watched the kids run around while we mostly sat and talked.  I being the new guy did a lot of listening and a very small amount of talking, not that I would have done much different if I wasn't the new guy.  Partway through the afternoon Seth showed off all the fireworks he had obtained.  It was quite the hall and I admit to feeling some excitement akin to what I felt as a child.  There were plenty of smoke bombs, snakes, and snappers for the kids to play with.  Some sparklers and firecrackers as well.  But the excitement for me came from the big "mortars".  These are the fireworks that shoot up in the air and explode in beautiful displays of color.  There were several of them with the grand finale being a mortar that would shoot off 19 different blasts in short order.  Yep, this was going to be a night to remember and yes, there is some foreshadowing intended.

As the sun began to inch its way toward the horizon the kids went out front to play with the more age appropriate fireworks and I kept relaxing, switching between listening to the conversations and watching the kids have fun.  It was truly a relaxing evening with good food and company.  I really enjoyed not having to think about work or unpacking and just being able to relax for a time.  As the evening moved on it became dark enough for the sparklers and soon the kids were all running around enjoying their beauty.  I always loved sparklers as a kid and enjoyed watching the little ones enjoying them.  I don't know if I can get these videos to work or not... and they fall short of showing the true dance skills of Seth's son, but maybe you can get a feel for how much excited energy he felt having the sparklers in his hands.  He was almost as entertaining to watch as the sparklers were!

Finally came the moments us big kids were waiting for.  Seth and I started lighting off the big fireworks and I admit it was exciting to light the fuse and here a dull thump followed by an explosion of colored sparks in the sky.  We lit off several of the smaller ones then let some of the teenaged kids light off some, I had moved back towards the families watching the fireworks to enjoy their beauty from a little farther distance and this is when things went wrong.  The way a mortar works is fairly straightforward and simple.  A group of tubes containing shells are all wrapped together and one by one the shells shoot off into the air where they explode.  This is assuming the mortar is pointing straight up as it is intended to be.  The problems began when one of the mortars knocked itself on its side after shooting off one or two of its shells and began shooting the shells all over the place, each shot changing its position.  The first one went down the street away from everyone and we all thought it was odd, then the shells began firing at us.  I mean directly at us, all of us sitting in front of the Garage were in its line of fire.  The moment of fun became, in an instant, a moment of panic.  Fireworks in the sky are pretty, fireworks right beside you are dangerous.  The next several seconds passed by both in slowly and quickly at the same time, I don't know how else to describe it.  In reality it only lasted maybe 10 seconds but felt like it was going on forever. 

The events that filled up the 10 seconds included lots of scrambling for cover, some kids screaming in fear, and some very close moments.  Seth's son was dancing away at the start and had one of the shells fly right between his legs and explode behind everyone.  I remember thinking I needed to protect everyone then having a shell impact my leg, I looked down and saw the shell right by me and I had a distinct impression to jump, which I did not a moment too soon as it exploded sideways shooting its sparks underneath me.  Seth was hit by a shell and had the hair on his leg burned away.  And... that was it.  Nobody suffered any serious injuries and after we all regained our composure we went back to shooting off the remaining mortars, albeit with a lot more respect for their true danger (we skipped one that was shaped like the one that fell over). 

It could have been worse.  It could have been much much worse.  The shell that hit me was heading right for where everyone was running to get away from the danger.  The shell that hit Seth was heading dangerously close to the remaining fireworks and could have started a chain reaction.  There were so many people standing around in the line of fire, the fact nobody got seriously injured is, in my mind, a true miracle and as I look back on the event I am convinced we were protected that night.  The shells that hit people did no harm, the shells that exploded by people did so in a way that did not spread fire to the house or onto anyone.  A dozen kids running around avoided all injury, Mothers and Fathers and 2 Grandparents came away shaken but intact.  By all logical reasoning there should have been at least one injury, statistically speaking it would have been the safe bet.  Yet there was none.  I am not one to find miracles in every single aspect of daily living... I tend to be a bit skeptical and view events as just being part of life, but there is no doubt in my mind this was an abnormal experience.  Why was I instructed to jump?  My normal reaction would be to move away, but instead I jumped and suffered no burns.  Shells seemed to magically miss people, diving between legs and arms to explode at a safe distance behind.  Everyone had a scare to be certain but when you realize what happened and how dangerous the situation truly was, the only possible explanation for me is that of a Loving Father in Heaven who was most definitely watching over us that night.