Fire-Wall

My little campus is the Valley of Elah

where David fought and defeated Goliath as I say in my blog description. Yesterday and today I encountered several battles

outside and inside the valley.

Last evening a CNG (compressed natural gas)operated car

burst into flames on our street.

The gas cylinder exploded due to some unknown reason.

Mercifully the occupants of the vehicle escaped

unhurt or un-singed I should say,

otherwise it would have been a terrible tragedy.

The car was fairly new and insured.

There was a huge commotion on the street with the fire brigade,

police, media and on-lookers.

So I also joined the group for some photos.

I have never photographed an accident before.

The UN conference on Global Warming is going on in Copenhagen

and people are looking for solutions for a greener earth.

CNG is one of them

Compressed natural gas, or CNG, is natural gas under pressure which remains clear, odorless, and non-corrosive. Although vehicles can use natural gas as either a liquid or a gas, most vehicles use the gaseous form compressed to pressures above 3,100 pounds per square inch.
It is quite popular in India , its much cheaper than petrol

and causes less pollution.

Most vehicles in New Delhi run on CNG.

But it can be disastrous if the engine and equipment has

not been installed properly.

This car was not hit by anything.

How the cylinder burst remains a mystery.

Our electricity was turned off
till the flames and smoke subsided completely.
The cable also snapped off so my
poor mummy had to watch a boring cricket match for
an hour or so.

Peace returned after a while

and we were glad that no one

was injured.

The second battle was much closer to home.

The battle for the wall

In the morning men from the municipal corporation

came to check and told us that

the height of the wall was above the stipulated elevation.

This is not true, our wall is half a foot below the standard height.

But you can 't argue with these people.

These mischief makers were looking for a bribe.

But we would not bribe them and in order

to quell the intimidation our workmen lowered

the height so the men went away empty handed.

They were threatening to bull -doze the wall.

Our wall is not the wall of Jericho,

it is Nehemiah 's wall

They left us in peace.

Yesterday a member of a local mafia gang(goonda)

tried to bully our workmen into paying him a "fees".

Our pastor was watching from a distance

and sensing what was happening ,praying

silently in his heart.

Our men answered him boldly and confidently and as Pastor moved

forward to speak to the gangster,

he got on his motorcycle and left.

We are on the winning team.

This is our completed front wall

It is topped with fierce looking jagged glass splinters

like shark teeth to discourage

unwanted people from jumping over it

and into our campus.

On Sunday afternoon a group

of boys kept throwing rocks

at our house and garden for 45 minutes.

My mother and I tried to stop them, but they wouldn 't

so we had to ignore them till they

got tired and went away.

The boys belong to a cluster colony (sagar pesha)

behind our house.

Its a place where low cast , blue collar workers live.

The Bible says the devil prowls around

like a lion to find whom he may devour.

God is our protection

and our fortress.

A mighty fortress is our God.

A bulwark never failing

Our helper He amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing;

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power is great,

And armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

The last battle of the day was a battle of faith.

A third section of the wall has to be built and we have run out of

money.Our pastor is adamant that we should go on with the building

although our purse is empty.

All this made me very nervous, tense and apprehensive and sick too.

I felt like an Israelite on the shore of the Red Sea.

Crying to Moses;why have you brought us out of Egypt?

Behind us is Pharaoh 's army and before us

the

roaring waters.

Going for the third section of the wall will be like drowning

ourselves.

But Pastor said we will borrow money

and the Lord will refund us.

We need Rs 80,000 at least.

May the Lord part the waters and

lead us through dry land.

Please pray for us.

My cold is not any better,

but for the sake of my mother

I have to pretend that it is

otherwise it will upset her and make her sick.

The wall issues have caused us

enough anxiety already.