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sun. After church, we rushed home to change into our picnic clothes, grabbed some hot dogs and snacks, threw in the quick grill (aluminum one-use grill), and headed to the lake to meet our friends.
    Walking from the parking lot to the lake, I noticed a few trees with long wooden boxes attached to them. These contained what looked like extra-long metal brooms with long flat pieces of metal fanning out on the end. My Norwegian friend informed me that these were “fire whappers” (or whatever the Norwegian word for it was!). We had a great day at the lake, and just as we were waiting for our coals to burn out to discard the grills, we noticed the water rippling and bubbling in the middle of the lake. I was curious about what was causing this phenomenon. Even more disconcerting was that the dancing water was moving in our direction. I asked my Norwegian friend if we should be worried. He assured me everything was fine.
    I hadn’t noticed that high above the rippling water there were leaves swirling around in the sky. I grew nervous when I realized there was a wind funnel bearing down on us. Before I could warn my family, the wind funnel hit shore, picking up all the loose debris, twigs, leaves, and our barbecue grills. It savagely flung them into the air, spewing hot coals all around us. The coals landed in the tall grass, and the wind instantly whipped up a grass fire. I had a split second decision to make: stay near the water until the fire burned itself away or run to safety as quickly as possible. As I was about to gather my family and scamper up the pathway to safety, I spotted an elderly Norwegian woman. She had taken her beach blanket, dipped it in the lake water, and was beating the fire. Ashamed to be running away while leaving a lone octogenarian to fight the raging blaze, I soaked my beach blanket in the lake and, together with my oldest son, began beating and stomping the fire alongside her. My wife corralled the other two, or so she thought, to a safe distance away. In the commotion, the youngest child, Conor, got loose. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my stroller-sized child dragging a broken tree branch near the fire. He had seen other adults using tree branches as fire whappers, and he wanted to help. Once his mother caught sight of him, she dragged him kicking and screaming back to the water. I was proud to be working alongside my sons to save the forest and the cabins from being consumed. But with the wind still churning the fire, we were fighting a losing battle.
    Then an amazing thing happened. To my left and right, Norwegians began popping up out of nowhere. They came running from neighboring campsites, many of them with fire whappers in hand. We surrounded the fire, and after forty minutes working furiously alongside each other, we beat the fire out, saving the forest and several nearby homes. As the last few embers were stamped to ash, the local fire truck slowly made its way up the road. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, with barely a nod for a job well done, the soot-faced Norwegians departed. We were exhausted, and our adrenalin was in overdrive, but we were safe.
    The story of the grass fire became lore in our family. It reminded us of how quickly a crisis can descend on an unsuspecting family. It also demonstrated how important it is for parents and children to work together when problems come. Finally, it demonstrated that when you need help, God is able to provide everything you need, even if from unusual places!
    Conclusion
    We’re not sure what your family is currently facing. Perhaps you are experiencing a period of tranquillity and laughter in your home. Or maybe you are trying to put out a raging fire. Whatever you are going through, we believe God’s Word can greatly help you. Throughout this book, we’ll be looking at what Scripture says about guiding and building families. But from this quick overview, we can identify several truths.
First, parenting isn’t easy! Even