LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — The family of a faculty member at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary averted a tragedy last weekend, and the providence of God is credited in protecting the five family members and their home.
Christian Walker, a fifth-grade schoolteacher and wife of Andrew Walker, associate dean of the School of Theology and associate professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at Southern, said her car caught on fire in the attached garage of their home. She immediately thinks on “all the little things the Lord did to help us see it and make decisions and keep the fire from burning too big. There was nothing damaged, no lives (lost or injured) — it was incredible.”
She had dropped off their oldest daughter, Caroline, at midnight Friday for a lock-in at their church, Highview Feganbush. She then went through the drive-through lane at Taco Bell, where she started smelling something burning. On the drive home, she smelled it “off and on.” But she did not see any smoke and no fire or smoke coming from under the hood.
Arriving home around 12:40 a.m., she pulled the car into the garage, which was immediately filled with smoke.
She went inside and woke her husband. The smoke was still there, but they couldn’t determine its source. Since the car was turned off, they decided to leave the garage door open and take it to the car dealership the next morning.
But at that point, some providential occurrences entered the situation.
Just before going inside, Christian turned the garage light off. She looked down and told Andrew that she saw smoke coming from the bottom of the grill of the car. He then looked further down the vehicle and saw a tiny orange reflection on the garage floor. As he got down on the ground and looked under the car, he saw it was on fire. That prompted Christian to make a 911 call, and firefighters arrived on the scene no more than five minutes later.
Christian thinks of all the “ifs” involved …
• “If I hadn’t turned on the light, we would have gone to bed …
• “If Andrew hadn’t looked on the ground and seen that tiny reflection …
• “If I hadn’t made that stop at Taco Bell …”
She sees God at work in all those “if” situations.
“It’s amazing to see the Lord’s providence — that Taco Bell saved our lives. If I had gone straight home would the fire have been big enough to make a reflection on the ground? If I hadn’t turned off the light … there are so many little things that were providential because it was under the car and there is no way we would know that was happening.”
And thoughts of what might have been contribute to the thankfulness for God’s provision in the situation.
“One of our daughters sleeps above the garage and we are on the other side of the house,” Christian noted.
She jokes, “the only terrible thing after all that happened was I didn’t get to eat my Taco Bell.”
The Walkers had nothing but praise for those who helped them during this ordeal.
“I called 911,” Christian said. “You always watch those calls in movies and wonder why the operator asks such dumb questions. You just want them to send someone. But the operator asked our address, what was happening, was the garage attached and was everyone out of the house.” That last question alarmed Christian — “No, we haven’t got the kids out of bed,” which she then immediately did. She surmised that those operators ask questions that people in a crisis situation don’t think of.
The Louisville Fire Department sent six fire engines and two trucks in rapid response. “They thought any minute the car could explode — they were prepared for a really big fire. They came and were so quick and great to work with,” she said.
Andrew posted on X, “Thankfully everyone is okay and our home is fine. I want to publicly thank Louisville Fire for their incredible speed in getting to my home and containing the fire before it could get any worse. At great danger to themselves, several firefighters demonstrated heroic actions to mitigate further damage. Praise the Lord for first responders.” He also posted to Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, “You should be especially proud of the service these heroes rendered. Thank you to all.”
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This story first appeared in Kentucky Today.