Pants on Fire

 

While in college and newly married, I worked at Mueller iron foundry on third shift.  The work was hot, dirty, and hard but paid well.  I thought, “If I’m going to trade eight hours of my life a day for money, I might as well get as much as I can for it.”  So I did.  I worked many positions while at Mueller, and one of them was pouring iron making fire hydrants.  I had safety glasses, steel-toed shoes, and rubber spats to keep hot sand off of my shoes.  I wore leather gloves and had a face-shield to minimize the heat on my face.  A hard-hat protected the top of my head.  I wore two pair of jeans and two long-sleeved shirts to protect my body from the heat as I poured the iron.  Iron melts at about 2750°F, and we poured the iron at about 2800°F.  Water splashing on your jeans is one thing, but iron splashing on your jeans is quite another thing.  After an eight-hour shift, my pants went into the washer and dryer, and the little burn holes below my knees turned into little fuzzy holes ready to be kindled.  One day an old man working behind me started swatting at the back of my legs.  I turned around in surprise and Milton said, “Whitely, you’re on fire!”  A splash of iron had ignited my frayed jeans and the second pair underneath kept me from feeling the outer pair on fire!  Fortunately, Milton put me out.  Hey, often in life we may be unaware of danger behind us.  Others can see our predicament, but we can’t.  Paul said in Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”  If we see a brother in danger, our responsibility is to help him … in the spirit of meekness.  We should not lecture, we should be kind, because tomorrow it may be us who need help in an area that we do not see.  Don’t preach at a brother; be helpful to a brother.  Put his fire out and he will help you put your fire out.