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Home Is Where the Heart Is
What treasure would you save if your home was engulfed by flames? Families barely escaped with their lives as the firestorm swept through San Diego County in October of 2003.
 
People had little time to grab sentimental items or treasures they had collected over the years. In the aftermath of the fire a donation center allowed the community to pull together in an effort to help the fire victims rebuild their lives.
 
At the donation center I had the privilege of meeting Dave and Barbara who lost their home, but not a single treasure. Barbara intrigued me by her calmness and strength in losing her home while being seven months pregnant.

Wanting to help I invited Dave and Barbara to my house to give them more plastic bins, an item they were looking for. The previous week I emptied out several bins that I had stacked in my garage.
 
As we talked at my house I discovered this was a God appointment. I realized Barbara, pregnant with her ninth child, was the cousin of a woman I had helped from church who lost her home. Although they lived thirty miles away from each other my friend from church had told me about Barbara and we had chosen items from the donation center for this family days before. Oddly, the couple was now at my home.

I learned that Barbara had the overwhelming responsibility of home schooling her eight children,  which immediately bonded me to her. I knew Barbara was special. With this understanding, I invested in organizing my son's third grade class to donate Christmas gifts for the family. 
 
When we delivered the gifts I had the opportunity and privilege to meet some of the family and tour their property. The children delighted in how the wooden chicken coop remained unscathed by the flames that engulfed the trees and structures nearby.

I discovered how Joshua saved his pet doves with the purchase of a net he was inspired to get a week prior to the fire. This new net equipped him to gather all the birds before fleeing from the flames that destroyed his aviary.
 
We climbed to the top of their charred property to touch the soft, fine hair of the alpaca they raise to process the fur into yarn. Dave previously had worked for a large corporation. Months before he decided to leave the conventional workplace to start his own business raising alpaca to enable him to be at home with his wife and children.

Their family, animals, and the barn that held the newly purchased processing equipment to run the business were spared from the flames. The Davies discovered that as long as they had their family they had all the treasures that truly mattered.
 
Three months after the fire Barbara gave birth to their ninth child. Born with downs syndrome and complications their baby boy fought for his life as family and friends fought with fervent prayers. During this time Barbara maintained a peace and strength that only God could provide.

Barbara knew God’s promises in the uncertain times of facing the possible loss of her newborn child. The baby came home from the hospital after three long months. The family gathered to welcome the arrival of their baby brother to the temporary trailer dwellings located on their charred land; a day of celebration.

By wisdom, understanding and knowledge we establish the rare treasures that fill the rooms of our dwelling. The treasures in our lives are the people around us. We are better off to invest in our loved ones than material possessions that pass away. For the Davies family their treasure is not a house but the precious lives of their loved ones.

God's Word says, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:20, 21). Dave and Barbara are focused on storing up treasures in heaven as they raise their nine children to love, trust, and honor God.