Do you remember your childhood fears? I can name three of mine: spiders, shots, and shocks. The shock I was afraid of is the electric kind. Recently, I literally came face to face with it.
My fear of shocks was two-fold: the sudden pop and the stinging pain that happens as the charge leaves your body. Knowing this, my parents warned me that the electricity that came through the outlets in the house was a lot stronger and more dangerous than the little static shocks. Their intent was to keep me safe; instead, it terrified me. For years, I wouldn’t plug anything into an outlet because I didn’t want to get electrocuted. If something needed to be plugged in and nobody else was around, it didn’t happen. Seriously, I think I was around eleven before I was brave enough to do that. When I did, I would hold my breath, pray, and then jerk my hand away as soon as the plug went into the socket.
When I was in elementary school in the 70s, an older man came each year with his science show. I think he went to several schools in our area. I don’t remember his name, but he always wore a shirt with a tie and he had glasses. Maybe some of you attended his show as well. Now, I didn’t enjoy his demonstrations at all. I know that sounds strange since I have always been a geek who loves science. You see, he was using electricity on almost everything he did. Often, I would close my eyes so I didn’t have to watch. At the end of his show, he would always ask for a volunteer to come on the stage to be a part of an experiment. While everybody else in the school was jumping up and down with their hands in the air and yelling “Pick me,” I was sliding down into my seat. The last thing I wanted was to be called on to go up on that stage. For one, I wouldn’t have done it. For another, the whole school would have made fun of me for not doing it. So, I silently prayed: “God, please don’t let him pick me.” You know what? He never did.
As an adult, I plug in things all the time, especially my hair dryer. Then I began to get a little lax about electricity, which was a big mistake. A couple of weeks ago I was cooking lunch after church. Sara and her family were joining us. After taking the rolls out of the oven, I placed the aluminum foil lined baking sheet on top of the toaster. Since my coffee percolator sits next to it, they share an outlet. Also, I kept the timer for my coffee pot plugged into it. When I get up in the morning, I need my coffee to be hot and ready. Now, keep in mind the foil lined sheet is sitting on the toaster and in front of the outlet. Needing more room to cream the potatoes, I shoved my toaster with the baking sheet back and toward the wall. That’s when I heard a loud pop, a crackling noise, and I saw a flash of fire. It was over in a split second.
I stood in stunned silence as I looked at the now blackened outlet cover. After checking on me, Tim ran out into the garage to make sure the breaker had tripped. It had. After I got my senses back, I laid my hand on the wall to make sure it wasn’t hot. Thankfully it wasn’t. Tim came back in and took the face plate off so he could examine the wires. He even used some kind of meter to test the socket. It was okay as well. He asked me: “What did you do?” I shrugged and answered: “Pushed the toaster back.” Of course, that wasn’t enough to cause what had just happened. Tim examined the scene and handed me my now fried timer. “I don’t think the timer was all the way plugged into the socket. When you pushed the toaster back, some of the foil on the baking sheet made contact with the timer’s exposed prong.” I realized it was my fault since I hadn’t paid enough attention to what was in front of me.
“The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.” Psalm 116:6 (KJV)

I don’t know how many times I’ve thanked the Lord for keeping His hand on us that day. And yes, I was being very simple about the electrical stuff because I was hurrying to get everything ready. Then I have to wonder how many other times I was being rather simple about things and He protected me and I wasn’t even aware of it. Now when I say my tub prayers in the mornings, I thank Him for His protection.
My timer ended up in the trash, so I don’t have one now. After what I had experienced, I doubt if I will buy another one any time soon. I’ll just keep plugging in the hair dry and coffee percolator.

Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.