Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: STEAM (12/03/15)
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TITLE: Fire! Fire! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Enqvist
12/06/15 -
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China was in turmoil. The Japanese had left. Mao was rising in power. The Nationalistic Army was waging a losing battle against him.
Steam ships, that had survived the war, were now crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, carrying families and single missionaries both ways. Among those returning to China, were my parents, traveling from Finland. This time they had five pre-school children with them. They crossed the Atlantic on the S.S. Drottningholm. The ten month journey through America partly by train, partly by car, brought them to the West coast, to wait for an opportunity to get to China.
My father acquired a single ticket on a steam ship, in September 1946. It carried several hundred missionaries, from San Francisco to Shanghai, in September 1946. My mother followed him a few months later, with us five kids on the S.S. Marine Falcon from Seattle, crossing the date line around New Year 1947.
My father met us in the chaos of a bombed Shanghai. A few days later we boarded the S.S. Taiping, heading north to the Port of Tianjin. Hundreds of Chinese passengers filled the ship beyond capacity. They all wanted to get home to their families in time to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Pig. Mother and we kids were placed in a cabin. Dad was among the crowds crammed down in the hold. The icy winds from Mongolia kept the passengers off the decks.
We arrived outside the Port too late. The pilots had already left work for their New Year holiday. No ships were allowed into the harbor anymore. Ice floes were spreading their cover over the Yellow Sea. The ship’s steam engines were silent. Angry voices cursed the captain for coming too late. Some even threatened to throw the captain overboard.
Suddenly there were screams: “Fire! Fire!” A load of bamboo on the front deck was in flames. Sabotage.
My father ran up to the captain on the top deck. The captain was in a frenzy. He told my father, “Do you know what cargo we are carrying? We have gasoline and bombs for the Nationalistic army. Soon this ship will blow up if we can’t stop that fire!”
“Can’t you turn the ship, so the wind blows the flames away from the ship?”
“The engines are cold. It would take hours to get up enough steam to start them up again.”
“What about fire extinguishers? Why don’t you use the water pipes?”
“The water in them is frozen. The pumps won’t work!”
A Chinese Army General stood beside them. My father said to him, “Command all your men to the dining saloon to pray. Only God is able to save us.”
Just minutes later all the soldiers and many of the passengers were on their knees, crying out to the missionary’s God. Most of them did not know who that God was, but in their fear, they gripped hold of their only hope: the assurance that seemed to flow through the missionary’s prayer.
When my father opened his eyes after his prayer, he was amazed. The flames were much smaller than a moment ago. He saw two young, Chinese men on the front deck, throwing the burning piles of bamboo over board.
The heat of the fire had melted the water in the pipes. The crew pumped water all over the smoldering deck. The sound of the hissing and steaming heat, rose to the saloon on the upper deck, as the last flames were put out. The two young men were doused with water as well.
The ship’s cook, with a grin that nearly tore his face apart, brought the two men to the saloon. Their clothes smelled of smoke, but they were not hurt. Not a sign of burns could be seen on their hands.
The men said, "God told us to go and throw the burning bamboo into the sea. He promised: When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2
The fire had eaten its way under the deck, stopped just inches from the explosive cargo.
Now everyone was prepared to learn more about the eternal salvation God offered them, after he had saved their lives from a sure death.
True story.
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What an amazing story of God's grace and Sovereign power.
Thanks for sharing this excellent and inspiring story!
God bless~
Thank you for sharing so well.
Claire
My only critique is in your use of commas. Usually, I advise people to use more commas, but in this entry, there were several places where you used unnecessary commas to set off essential elements of a sentence. For example:
Missionaries, who had been stranded in China during the war, were returning to their home countries.
In that sentence, 'who had been stranded in China during the war' is an essential part of the sentence and therefore does not need to be set off with commas. A similar example:
Steam ships, that had survived the war, were now crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific...
There's another example in the 4th paragraph, and perhaps one more.
Other than these easily correctable comma issues, this is a remarkable and well-written story. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Well written. Good use of the topic. I hope this rates well.
Thanks for sharing.
I think such an amazing story should be made into a book or movie.