The Alarm Next Door

Several months ago, my wife and I came home to our apartment and heard an alarm blaring inside the unit across from us. I didn't think much about it. Since moving into this apartment complex, we had found that our alarm often went off when we were cooking.

About 40 minutes later, I went out into the hallway to get the mail and noticed the alarm was still ringing. It seemed odd that no one had turned it off. Something wasn't right. Was no one home? Many of our fellow residents were refugees who had recently arrived in our community--did our neighbors not know how to turn off the alarm?

As I approached their door I smelled gas. I quickly knocked on the door as worst-case scenarios ran through my mind. A minute passed that felt like an eternity.

Just as I was ready to call 911, a man opened the door. I asked if everything was okay. Hands covering his ears, he gestured to the alarm on the wall and said that it had been blaring for over an hour. He had no idea why and no clue how to turn it off.

Urgently I told him I smelled gas. That’s when he realized that the alarm was not just a smoke detector, but also a carbon monoxide detector. We both ran into the kitchen and saw one of the knobs turned on, releasing gas. He turned it off.

With a sigh of relief, we opened all the windows and doors to air out the apartment. Thankfully, his wife and two toddlers had gone into another room to get away from the noise, where they were somewhat protected from the gas. My wife, who is a nurse, told the couple to go to the Emergency Room immediately if they saw any change in their toddlers’ behavior or alertness.

As we talked, we learned that their family had arrived only a month ago from Afghanistan. They had no friends, resources, or community to call for help. They had intended to sleep through the noise all night. The chilling realization that they might never have opened their eyes again dawned on all of us.

My wife and I had chosen to move to this apartment complex so that we could befriend and share God’s love with refugees. I believe he put us in this specific apartment so that we could be there to care for this Afghan family as only neighbors can. We thank Him for saving their lives. As we continue building our friendship with them, would you pray that he would save their souls as well?

Note: Eric So is a pastor at The Well in Silver Spring. His outreach to refugees is one of many initiatives supported by our Local Missions Committee. To read the So’s story as well as reports from Covenant Life’s other community outreach teams, check out the Local Missions Annual Report.