It’s just stuff. It can be replaced.

I’m in my 11th consecutive year of reading the entire Bible and I realized I have a whole new perspective this year on the story in Genesis of Lot and his family fleeing from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before God rained fire down from heaven, destroying everything. They were told not to look back as they left but Lot’s wife didn’t listen and she turned into a pillar of salt as she turned back to look at her home and all of her stuff.

This is a great lesson on what is really important.

I live in the Denver area where thousands of people just had this same experience. The Marshall Fire started right in the center of a very populated area and the winds were 100 mph and higher. The fire grew fast and furiously, burning up everything in it’s path. Thousands of people were quickly evacuated from their homes taking their families with them but leaving everything else behind.

My daughter’s house was initially in the path of the fire if it kept going in the direction it was going. So she and her husband packed up their 2 small children, their dog, their computers, their safe with important documents and 2 small suitcases with clothes and precious toys and came to my house. They left everything else behind not knowing if anything would still be there after the fire was contained.

We all got into bed that night wondering what the morning would bring.

During the night God answered our prayers and calmed the winds giving the fire fighters a chance to get a head of the fire. The next morning my daughter and her husband were able to pack up their family and go back home because it was no longer in danger.

But thousands of people went back to their neighborhoods to find everything burned. Nothing was left untouched by the fire. In every interview I saw on TV, people were sad about losing their ‘stuff’ but very happy that their family was safe.

What a great lesson for all of us about what is really important.

It’s just stuff.