But through God’s faithfulness, that loss became a calling to serve others with compassion, hope, and love.
our story
Our Beginning
We have lived in Louisville, CO since 1989, raising 2 beautiful daughters and both working full time to make ends meet. BJ started his own Employee Benefit business in 1994 and Ann has worked as a RN in various settings in the medical world. We moved to what we planned as our forever home in 2002 on Hillside Lane.
On 12/30/21 our world abruptly changed. The Marshall Fire consumed over 1000 homes in the Louisville, Superior area on a very windy, dry, warm afternoon. The cause of this fire is still uncertain but there are several theories. Our home was lost as was our entire neighborhood, scattering our community of 20+ years. We thank God that He had 3 of the 4 of us at home the day of the fire. We 3 had plans to be away but miraculously those plans all fell through, allowing us to be at home as the fire blew up, gathering incredible speed and came across 6 lanes of highway into the open space behind our home. Being home allowed us to evacuate with our pets, a few laptops, some important documents and the clothes on our backs as we took 15 very panicked minutes to get out as our backyard started on fire.
What the Fire Took
During the past 4 years, we have slowly rebuilt our lives, each of the 4 of us. As a family, we decided not to rebuild and sold our burnt lot, which was a very hard decision. We chose to move to a new community near by and into a new home. We have all been blessed in innumerable ways by so many people, some known and some unknown. We have chosen to live differently, and our desire is to be the hands and feet that the Bible teaches us to be. We started A Burnt Offering to give back, to help those in difficult circumstances and bring God’s light to others needing a hand. Our key verse from this fire is Proverbs 11:25 and we hope and pray to bring honor to our Father with this business endeavor.
What Remained
Somehow our favorite flower, the peony, which was planted at our front step did not get destroyed in our fire and bloomed that spring. As you can see from the picture, it serves as a symbol of strength and resilience that can come out of nothing but ashes. How amazing to see something so beautiful come from something so incredibly difficult and sad!
From Loss to Purpose
Our 2 daughters lost their beloved home, all their belongings from their childhood and are holding onto the wonderful memories of growing up on Hillside Lane that we all keep close. They have both married since the fire and are moving forward building their new lives with their wonderful husbands.
Proverbs 11:25 “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed”
our prayer
Every Holy Moment — Fire, Flood or Storm…
O Christ in whom our treasures are secure, fix now our hope in you. In light of all that was so suddenly lost, O Lord in light of all we had gathered but could not keep, comfort us.
Our nerves are frayed, O God. Our sense of place & permanence is shaken so be to us a foundation.
We were shaped by this place, and by the living of our lives in it, by conversations and labors and studies, by meals prepared and shared, by love incarnated in a thousand small actions that became as permanent a part of this structure as any nail or wire or plank of wood.
Our home was to us like a handprint of heaven. It was our haven, and now we are displaced, and faced with the task of great labors — not to move forward in this life but merely to rebuild and restore what has been lost. Have mercy O God.
It is for these reasons we grieve the loss of our home and its contents – we grieve them for what they had come to signify in our stories, for they were charged with such meaning and memory, and woven with so much that is eternal.
O Father, we have suffered a hard loss, and one that we cannot endure alone. May we emerge in the months to come – even in our frailty – stronger than before, more deeply rooted in you, and more wrapped in the necessary arms of community. Give us humility to receive that which we need and cannot repay, when it is offered by others.
We thank you for the presence of friends who would share this burden of grief simply by showing up in the midst of it, grieving with us. We thank you for the small mercies and kindnesses extended. For the grace of thoughtfulness translated into the tiny details of life. For beauty, O Lord, let us not lose sight in our grief, of all that is yet bursting with beauty in this world.
Let us not lose sight of the truth that we live in the midst of an unfolding story of redemption, and that even this loss of ours will have its counterpoint at the great restoration.
Indeed, for anything spared and salvaged, we give you thanks. Let us see that even in disaster, there is grace still at work, for you know the limits of our hearts. Be with us now as we sift and clean, as we slog merely to reclaim some fraction of that which we once took for granted.
Be with us as we navigate the countless details that must be tended and decisions that must be made between now and the time that we begin to feel normal again. Be with us as we slowly recover from the shock of sudden loss, enough to begin to imagine what the restoration of our home might mean, for to build again a thing that we know might be easily lost, must be an act of faith.
Let our rebuilding be a declaration that a day will come when all good things are permanent, when disaster and decay will have no place, when dwellings willl stand forever, and when no more lives will be disrupted by death, tragedy, reversal or loss.
So by that eternal vision, shape our vision for what this temporary home might become in its repair. O Lord, that in that process of planning & rebuilding we might also streamline our lives for stewardship, for service and for hospitality in the years ahead.
But those are all tasks for tomorrow. We do not even know yet today the full measure of what we have lost.
Today is for mourning. So let us grieve together as those who know the world is broken, but yet hold hope of its restoration.
Comfort us, O Lord in the wake of what has overtaken us. Shield us, O Lord from the hurts we cannot bear. Shelter us, O Lord, in the fortress of your love.
Shepherd us, O Lord, as we wake each new morning, faced with the burdens of a hard pilgrimage we would not have chosen. But as this is now our path, let us walk it in faith, and let us walk it bravely, knowing that you go always before us.
Amen