The Golding Life: Truck Fire

On October 19th, 2016 the Lord watched over my family more than I can even describe. I had been at my discipleship group and headed to Hobby Lobby before church. Jonathan had the big boys and they were headed to church. We had just gotten off the phone and he heard a big “pop” as they were getting off the interstate. Tucker said “What was that daddy?” and Jonathan told him “I’m not sure bud!” Tucker said he remembered seeing black smoke coming from the back of the truck and Jonathan said he didn’t see anything that he had possibly run over, but started to smell something about the time they got to the top of the exit. He told me that as soon as they got there he sensed something wasn’t right and told the boys to unbuckle. Obviously that’s odd to hear that while driving, so Tucker questioned him “right now daddy?” Jonathan responded “immediately.” Tucker followed instructions and was unbuckled by the time they got over the bridge and put the truck in park. Jonathan reached back and unbuckled Jace (how he isn’t quite sure), but they were all out of the truck within about 30 seconds. He sat both boys down and was looking for his phone to call 911, but he had knocked it in the back seat while getting them unbuckled and out of the truck. (While he was looking both boys described a man who ran at them, and as soon as their feet hit the ground he was standing beside them and talking to them. He was tall and had a grey shirt - but much to Jonathan’s dismay, he couldn’t remember the man. He kept telling the boys “there was no man,” but we have come to realize that it was an angel protecting my babies that night. Also, my mom was telling a lady about it at Sams one day a few weeks later and her husband was with her and said they saw him pull the boys out of the truck- but that THERE WAS NO ONE THERE… All I can say about that is that God is good - so so very good.) He said as he opened the door that fire was coming out from under the wheel wells. The truck was engulfed in flames in less than two minutes from them escaping.

There was a woman and daughter that had jumped the curb and came to try and flag Jonathan down because they saw the flames coming out from the back. They pulled up a few seconds after they were al out of the truck and standing in the grass. They took the boys down into the grass while Jonathan was trying to go back to get his phone, but the truck went up too quickly and he couldn’t get it.

All this took place within about 3 minutes and praise the Lord that He prompted Jonathan to stop instead of trying to get to church before checking it out. The ladies let Jonathan use their phone and he called me. It was a Jackson, TN number, and I very rarely answer a number I don’t know, but I for some reason answered that night and as I heard him say “Hey” my immediate response was “why are you calling me from a Jackson number?” His response: “My truck’s on fire - I’m going to need you to come get us.” I said “What?? What do you mean? Are y’all ok?” He said “we are fine, but my truck isn’t.” I then said “What do you mean ON FIRE?” He said “Like up in flames - the fire department just got here and is putting it out.” My heart sunk to my feet and I was RUNNING out of the store. I didn’t even here where he told me he was, but I could SEE THE SMOKE coming up from the store about 2 miles away. I raced there as quickly as I could and as I pulled up the police man asked me what I was doing. All I could say was “those are my babies, I NEED TO GET TO THEM.” He proceeded to tell me I couldn’t get to them and to put on my flashers and get back in the car. What? What? Are you crazy? I could see they were ok, so I was at least not crying like I was while trying to get there, but what a crazy and unbelievably scary night.

My mom called and I told her Jonathan’s truck caught fire and I’d have to call her back because Jonathan was walking my way with the boys. Thankfully the police man had him bring the boys to my car and then talk to him - he knew I needed to get my hands on them. To say that my mommy’s heart was in complete shock and panic is an understatement.

My mom headed our way and took my car to get the boys dinner and just get them out of there while we were waiting on the tow truck.

Since we have been building, we have been living out of our vehicles with so many tools and supplies, and we had just moved in the week before. Jonathan “on a whim” decided to go ahead and clean out his truck since we were starting to get somewhat settled and he could finally start unloading things into the garage. He took out several boxes of ammo as well as tools he had been using out of the front of his truck just 20 minutes before leaving the house and heading to church that Wednesday night. The Lord knew that this would happen and even though NOTHING is more important than the fact that they got out - Nothing. In all honesty, the biggest loss we had from the truck burning were two car seats and Jonathan’s phone - that’s it. Our car insurance doesn’t cover contents, so that was definitely a blessing that we didn’t also have to make a claim on our home owner’s insurance.

Jonathan’s dad also came - he couldn’t call anyone but me when it all happened and I had called Mrs. Pam immediately as I was pulling out to tell her what was going on and that they were ok, but I was headed that way. She immediately called Mr. Mike and he called me and headed our way as soon as he found out. He and my mom were both so teary when they pulled up, but they apparently were able to see from the front just how bad it really was, I only saw from the back, and his tool box and bed were in tact and the firefighters got there in time to get the fire out before it moved to the back, but the front of the truck was COMPLETELY burned up.

When the firefighters left, Jonathan went and looked back at his truck and found his phone in the back seat sitting on the hump between the two seats on to floor. His phone said “your phone will need to cool down before using” - that’s impressive that it still worked, but it wouldn’t charge and his screen was badly messed up, so he did have to get a new phone, but still pretty crazy that it even worked at all.

Growing up I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vehicle catch on fire, so it was definitely nerve racking having it happen, but let’s be real - our God knew it was going to happen and He blessed our family so much that night - they walked away without a scratch - the boys didn’t even SMELL of the fire, Jonathan had a stain on his shirt from the soot - that’s IT. THAT’S ALL. To me that’s just completely unbelievable. God is Good ALL THE TIME. And I’m praising the Lord for their sweet lives and His decision to spare their lives. I believe God has big things in store for them and I just can’t wait to see what the Lord will do in their lives in the years to come. We will not soon forget that night.