"And she got up"

Imagine this:

You have a friend whose grandfather is very sick. Everyone in your community knows about your friend’s sick grandfather, and everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he dies. Your friend devotes all of his spare time to taking care of his grandfather and easing his pain. You also do your best to support your friend and give him whatever he needs.

One day, your cell phone rings. You check the number and see it’s your friend. As you answer the phone and your friend begins to speak, you can immediately tell that he’s been crying. And then he says it: “He died today.” You offer words of consolation and you rush over to your friend’s house. Along the way, you call friends and let them know that your friend’s grandfather has finally passed.

You get to your friend’s house and by this time, several other people have made their way there. The house is crowded with people…some talking, some crying, some just there for support. You make your way to the back bedroom where you find your friend and his grandfather, lying dead in the bed. People are holding your friend and comforting him as he cries. You start to get emotional as well; you hug your friend and let your own tears flow, whispering “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

Without many people noticing, a neighbor enters the house and makes his way to the bedroom where you, your friend and your friend’s grandfather are. He takes a look around then says something very unusual: “Go away…the man is not dead, but asleep.” Some people chuckle uncomfortably at this man’s statement. Most people look at him with a look of utter shock on their faces. A few actually raise their voices at this man for being so insensitive. However, the man is insistent, and he actually starts telling people to get out of the room; he wants everyone out except your friend. Everyone can’t believe what’s going on, but not wanting to add to the rediculousness of the scene, the crowd obeys. You manage to convince the man to let you stay, and he obliges. So now it is only you, your friend, your friend’s grandfather’s body and this man left in the room. Once the last person has left, he closes the door.

What happenes next leaves you utterly dumbfounded. The man walks over to your friend’s grandfather, picks up his lifeless hand, and tells him to get up! Before you have a chance to be disgusted at this man’s total lack of respect, your friend’s grandfather opens his eyes and sits up! He gets up, opens the door, and greets all the people who were waiting outside the door. Some scream…some faint…all can’t believe it.



What would you tell people if you were one of the ones to see this dead man raised to life? Do you think anyone would believe you? What would you think about the neighbor who raised him? Believe it or not, this is a true story…only it wasn’t a grandfather that died, it was a little girl. And this didn’t happen recently…it happened over 2000 years ago. And the neighbor was a man named Jesus. The story comes from the book of Matthew, chapter 9, verses 18-26. Look it up…read it. It’s true!

There are many “faith healers” out there today who claim to have healed people from diseases and helped crippled people to walk again. Some even claim to have communicated with people who are dead. But if you took any of them, brought them to a funeral home, pointed them toward a man or woman lying in a casket and asked them, “so what are you gonna do about this situation?”, all of them would probably squirm and tell you there isn’t much they CAN do. However, death was not a problem for Jesus. He is the only person who walked this earth to actually raise someone from the dead. People who don’t believe that Jesus is the son of God will often say he was a great man, a good teacher, one of many “holy men” who taught us how to live, etc. But none of these people ever talk about the miraculous things Jesus did. They either ignore them all together or they say they didn’t happen. But Jesus told people to believe in the evidence of the miracles he performed. If he never performed miracles, that means he’s a liar. If he’s a liar, there goes that whole “good moral teacher” thing.

Yes, Jesus was a “good moral teacher.” Yes, Jesus was a “great man.” Yes, Jesus was a prophet. But there’s one big thing that sets him apart from all the other moral teachers and great men who ever lived: the story of Jesus and the dead girl ends with these words:

“…and she got up.”

Carona Court Memories - Kristine, Vince and the girl voice

In honor of my soon-to-be former household, I'd like to recount some of the memories I have of various things that have gone on there over the past almost four years. Most will probably be pleasant, though who knows what I might remember? Right now, I'm just gonna let the creative process flow and see what my mind brings to the forefront.

Kristine was my roommate Bryant's personal organizer for several years. She would often make house calls to our place and assist Bryant for a couple hours with organizing his stuff. She was a very nice and friendly woman, and I always enjoyed whenever she came over. Bryant kept Kristine laughing constantly, and I think that (besides the fact that Bryant was paying her) kept her coming over to the house. Also, the more she came over, the more she got to know myself, Vince and Rob. I'd like to think she came to like us all very much, and we all enjoyed talking to her whenever she came over.

One time, Bryant, Vince and myself decided to play a joke on her. Vince does an eerily accurate impersonation of a girl's voice, and we were going to trick Kristine into thinking Bryant had a female friend in town who wanted to meet Kristine to enlist her services. So we got Kristine downstairs with Bryant and I, and we made up this whole tale about this girl (I think we called her "Stephanie") Bryant knows who wants her help. Of course, Kristine buys it (why wouldn't she?). Eventually, we get "Stephanie" to call Bryant and we have "her" speak to Kristine! Vince's girl voice completely fools Kristine, and when "Stephanie" says she's coming over to meet Kristine, Kristine can't wait to meet her!

Eventually "Stephanie" arrives and says she's coming downstairs to meet Kristine (unbeknownst to her, I'm behind her, recording the whole thing). Imagine her surprise when Vince comes down the stairs and speaks in Stephanie's voice! Needless to say, Bryant, Vince and I were cracking up. Kristine was a good sport about it and had a good laugh too. She was definitely expecting a new female client and instead got Vince talking like a girl.

Yeah, I'd be disappointed too.

Packing

After almost four years, the Carona House will be coming to an end.

That's right...we will be moving out of 37 Carona Court and going our separate ways. Rob is headed to Pennsylvania for grad school, Vince is moving back to his parent's house, and Bryant and I will be forming a new household with Nick and Minh (we won't be moving far...still staying in Silver Spring). Thankfully, none of us are leaving on bad terms with each other...it's just the way things happened to work out. We tried to find replacement roommates, but no one was available. This is what God has given us, so we're gonna run with it.

I'll be spending all day packing up my stuff. This no doubt will include throwing lots of stuff away...stuff that I've been hording for awhile and will finally realize that I have no practical use for anymore.

In future posts, I will bring you some of my favorite memories from my time at 37 Carona Court.

Firehouse Life - Apartment Fire

Sometime between 7 and 8p on Saturday, we got called for an apartment fire on Piney Branch Road. As we were en route, another fire engine that was responding advised that they could see a visible column of smoke from several blocks away...a sure sign that there's work to be done. Apartment fires are challenging because of the number of people living in the building, reaching the fire, smoke removal, etc. All of those things came into play, especially since this fire was on the 12th floor. There were also reports of people trapped. Fortunately, everyone was removed safely and the fire was extinguished. Good job first battalion!

Firehouse Life - LODD

Solidarity. Support. Compassion. Commitment. Family.

These things were all seen today at the funeral of retired Montgomery County Firefighter Carlos Alfaro Sr., who recently passed away.

Carlos had been with the department since 1975. I had never formally met him while he was an active firefighter, riding fire trucks. I only knew him as the father of Carlos Alfaro Jr., who was also a firefighter in Montgomery County, and like his father, had also passed away because of cancer. Unfortunately, Alfaro Jr. was only in his early 30s when he died. As I progressed in my career, I would occasionally see Carlos Sr. on the scene of various 911 calls (various fires and serious car accidents), taking pictures or video. He worked tirelessly to record MoCo firefighters in action, and he would use lots of expensive video editing equipment to put together videos of the guys in action. In 2004, while traveling with the USAR team to New Orleans to help during Hurricane Katrina, he collapsed. It was discovered he had an aggressive strain of cancer. He fought it for several years before he finally retired a month ago.

The first time I formally met him was also the last time I would see him alive. Several shifts ago, myself and Lenny were tagged to pick Carlos up from his home in Beltsville and take him to a hospital in Baltimore for a procedure. We got there and found him on home oxygen, fairly weak. He and his wife were still in fairly good spirits as we helped him down the steps, onto our cot and into the ambulance. As we dropped him off in the emergency room, he bid us farewell with a warm smile and a handshake. A couple weeks later, I open up my work email and I found out he had passed. I knew he was sick, and I knew he would eventually die. I just didn't expect it to be so soon.

Since it was believed he contracted cancer from working as a firefighter, his death was considered a Line of Duty Death (LODD). This entitles his surviving family members to more financial aide, and it would mean sending him off with a full fire department funeral (more on that in a sec).

As we came in to work today, we found out that Carlos' funeral would be held today. The ladder truck, engine and ambulance were scheduled to go, which made me happy because as one of the firefighters to last see him alive, I felt somewhat of a bond with him. I also wanted the opportunity to see a full fire department funeral. LODDs are rare (although not rare enough), and I wanted to be there to experience one while I had the chance.

I was on the engine with Fikar, Schaefer and Matt Miles. We got to the church and lined up outside with the rest of the uniformed personnel. Carlos' casket was sitting on top of the new Engine 716 (Carlos spent most of his career at station 16). When it was time for the funeral to start, the honor guard carried his casket off the engine and brought it into the church, with all the uniformed personnel standing at attention, saluting. Many people, both firefighters and non-firefighters, were there to say goodbye to him.

After the funeral, Carlos was brought out of the church the same way he was brought in...carried by the honor guard, firefighters of every rank standing and saluting, and the pipes and drums band honoring him in song. The funeral procession made it's way up University Blvd, led by a cadre of police officers on motorcycles. All types of apparatus followed Engine 716...fire engines, ambulances, a rescue squad, chief's buggys, police cars...everything...all with their emergency lights flashing, but with sirens silent. Intersections were blocked by police cruisers and people all along the streets had no choice but to stop and view this fallen fireman take his final ride.

We finally reached the Gates of Heaven Cemetery on Georgia Ave, and Trucks 712 and 725 made an archway with their ladders at the entrance; it was a powerful sight. After some slight confusion as to where the gravesite was, we finally were told where it was, and the procession made its final stop. Myself, Miles, Wakeley and Lenny helped position the steps that the honor guard would use to bring down Carlos' casket. After that, we lined up on the grass and saluted when ordered. The honor guard brought Carlos to the gravesite, the priest said some final words, and the pipes and drums closed things out with "Amazing Grace." And just like that, it was over.

It was truly powerful and moving; I'm glad I was there to see it, though I hope I never have to see one again.