"Smooth, Bump-Bump."

Psalms 112:7 " He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."

  It was a firefighter's worst nightmare. Out of touch with the other members of my crew, disoriented, running low on air, and now... trapped. I had no radio. I struggled desperately to control my breathing, and stave off the fingers of panic creeping into my mind. The space I was in was barely big enough to turn around in, but I had no idea where it was. On my knees, I went around and around the tiny space, searching desperately for the opening I had come in through. Sweat poured down the inside of my turn-out coat, and fogged my mask. "I had come in this space!! There has to be a way out!". Over and over, I reached up the wall surface, searching for a knob, a window opening, anything. There was Nothing. Smooth walls on four sides, cluttered floor beneath, solid wood over my head; less than 3-4 feet above the floor. Suddenly my regulator began to vibrate, a subtle warning my air was running low. I quit my frenzied searching.... stopping to think what I should do. I Forced myself to STOP, and think... and there, in the darkness and the heat, breath hissing loudly through my face piece, I remembered...

 
What I am describing is the scariest scenario for almost any firefighter. In the dark and the heat, disoriented and alone, the readout on the SCBA (self countained breathing apparatus) slowly blinking out until only the red lights glow. The structure is burning, and you are trapped...what do you do next?  We train for these moments, practicing, over and over until it becomes ingrained. In "disoriented firefighter" drills, with "blacked-out" masks, we search until we find a hose-line, feeling for the coupling. Then, repeating the moniker, "smooth-bump-bump, back to the pump.", firefighters rub their hand across the coupling, the smooth  shank of the female, and the double row of lugs where the male and female coupling meet telling them the direction to safety. They then follow a convoluted hose line through two hundred feet of "restricted" passages, entangling wires, and disorienting wall and floor formations, trying to make their air supply last until the end of the drill.  "Trapped firefighter" drills are slightly different. A trapped firefighter learns to call a "May-Day", activate his P.A.S.S. device (a loud firefighter trouble alarm, hooked to his equipment) and then conserve air until a R.I.T. (rapid intervention team) can reach him.
 

  While the drills may be different in some aspects, they do have similarities.  In both of these drills, firefighters practice making themselves STOP , giving themselves a chance to reset. If you walked in on one of our drills, with a participant frantically searching for a hose line, the two words you would probably hear the most are "STOP!!" and "Think!!"  Stopping gives the firefighter a chance to catch his breath, and clear his mind of panic,before moving on. But it also gives him the opportunity to break from whatever ineffective action he might have been taking. "Think" goads his memory into falling back on his training... and maybe saving his life.

  What is comparable between my real life scenario and the training is that a moment comes when You must TRUST.  In training, you must trust the instructor to get you through the drill.  You must trust that the drill isn't to harm you but it's for your benefit. You must trust that the knowledge is reliable and translates into actions that will save your life.  In real life you must trust yourself. At first you doubt what your mind is telling you, partially because your instincts are screaming something else. Your nervous system wants to panic, and the little man in the back of your head is jumping up and down, red faced, screaming at the top of his lungs: "RUN!!!" The questions pop into your mind, so fast they form one giant, barely cohesive doubt... "did I feel smooth bump bump or did I feel bump bump smooth?"  " It's fifty feet to the next coupling, am I going the right way?", "what's in front of me?" "DID I FEEL smooth bump bump?  Can I make it?"

  That day, I was trapped. I stopped, remembered my training, and as cool as I could muster, activated my PASS device. As soon as it went off, the most incredible thing happened. Accompanied by the sound of wood splintering under force, a shaft of light broke through the gloom. A voice called out "Who's in here?!" I scrambled for the light, and as I crawled past a "truckie", I just barely managed to mumble, " Dude!! I was stuck."   After the fire was out, I went back... I had to see.  I rounded a sharp corner in the hall and there it was, what had almost been my grave... a coat closet.  Seriously?! The heavy wood shelving had fallen down, and was wedged a little more than 3' above the floor. It was maybe 4' deep x 3' wide. The truckie's tool marks were still on the door where he had pried it open, and there was no knob on the inside - a perfect little box, 10-15' from safety.

   I was reminded of this story today because I have had some problems trusting in the recent past:  Trusting GOD, trusting myself, trusting the ones I love. But remembering this story reminded me that even if I didn't portray it as well as I wanted, that before I could be "saved", I first had to "stop" and "trust"... Trust that what I knew was still true, whether on the training ground or in real life. "Trust" that "someone" would hear and intervene.

Last week, struggling with these concepts, a most incredible woman sent me this link: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Books/NOP/nop-chap_03.htm ... And I sat there stunned, as I read about.... Trust.  Not just in the action of GOD, but more so in his PERSON and His goodness.  I was stunned to realize that before He could move... I had to TRUST. Isn't it amazing how much like faith, trust really is?

So there may be times where you feel trapped... don't know where to go... don't know what to do... But just as I was trained and I was reminded on that day... take some time.... STOP....THINK.....  And TRUST.