Faith Under Fire

I need a ladder on the back, as well as any hot spots, okay?

Here's your water.

Let's go, fellas. Let's go!

Oh, man, you didn't have to be here tonight.

It's okay, Chief.

- Sure? - I'm good.

Stay close, will you?

Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless.

- Yes, sir. - Let's go, men!

- Let's get that van rolling. It's leaking out.

Let's take it in and get a good knockdown.

All right.

Come on, Tom.

No place else I'd rather be.

- What's the matter with you, man? - What?

Tiffany's back in the hospital.

Cancer.

Ma'am.

No!

My daughter's inside!

My daughter's inside!

There's a girl inside!

Chief, I have point.

You want to do that, bud?

Let's do it.

All right, let's do it.

Please! (SOBBING)

My best man's in there looking for her right now.

- (GLASS SHATTERS) I found a way in.

David, you with me?

Always, brother.

Ma'am, it's gonna be all right.

Come on, ma'am.

First floor is clear.

We're going upstairs.

Find the girl and get the heck out of there!

Push the backdraft, Tom.

Don't get reckless.

It's getting real hot in there, Chief.

You've got to pull them out of there, Chief.

- Oh, no! No! - Chief! Look at it up there, man!

Just hold fast.

Chief, if you're not going to pull them out,

then at least let Devon and me in, too.

- Yeah. We got her.

Yeah.

- We're coming out. - He's coming out.

It's good to be in the house of the Lord.

Amen.

Today, I would like to speak to you from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 through 8.

We'll be starting this week our nine-week sermon series

called "There is a season."

"A time to be born

"and a time to die,

"a time to plant

"and a time to uproot,

"a time to kill

"and a time to heal,

"a time to tear down

"and a time to build,

"a time to weep..."

Well, you know the rest.

And you do not want me to sing that song, I promise you.

Today's sermon is going to focus on suffering.

Pain.

And the healing love

of God's miracles.

Where?

Uh, where what, friend?

Where are these miracles?

When will he come down from his golden throne

and touch the people?

I'm sorry?

You sing songs,

give money, time, blood, sweat and tears.

You talk about faith and being faithful.

But when it comes down to our absolute desperate needs,

where is the Almighty

to actually help the people?

Where is the King?

I know there are questions,

- but... - You have no idea.

He's not just a king.

You know, he's also a suffering servant.

He's a God that knows

our pain and is acquainted with our grief.

Then what can I even hope for?

Faith gives substance to what you hope for.

I'm all out of faith.

You have to believe.

You have to believe with all of your heart.

There can be no doubt.

Doubt is the yeast that spoils the whole loaf.

Believe that!

Come on, get this guy out of here.

Tom, don't let her get too close to the geese.

Back up.

There you go.

The parade starts in an hour.

Let's go.

Come on, shorty, let's go to the parade.

Tiffany, look, who is it?

It's one of Daddy's work trucks.

That's right, it's one of Daddy's fire trucks.

Say, "Hi, Mr. Steve. Hi, Mr. Devon."

You remember Donnie Piper?

Stop, I still feel bad about that.

You know, that was so mean of you,

but if it wasn't for Donnie Piper, we wouldn't be together.

Who's Donnie Piper?

Don't.

- David? - Okay, okay.

So, Tom and me were watching this very parade.

We were 14 years old, but it's 20 years ago, right?

- Eighteen years ago. - Eighteen years ago.

So, there's this guy, Donnie Piper. He's been picking on Sarah in school.

He kept calling me "church girl," making fun of Christians,

that sort of thing. I can totally handle it,

but here comes Mr. Muscles and his best friend David.

So, we catch up to Donnie in the alley and we pie him.

You what?

Well, you know, Tom, he's got a whipped cream pie,

he sticks it, "boom," right in his face. So, here is Donnie,

he's trying to wipe pie off of his face,

I come running around the corner,

"bang," I stick another pie in his face.

So, now Tom, he grabs him,

he throws him into the middle of the parade, and he yells,

"Hey, look, it's the Pied Piper!"

Oh, you two are terrible.

We were. We were. It's true.

So, that's when you fell in love with him?

Oh, no. No, no.

No, no, no. So, a couple of days later,

I'm coming home from school,

I cut through the lot.

There is Donnie, but he's got his big brother with him.

Starts roughing me up a little bit, gives me a black eye.

So now, I go to see Tom,

Tom sees me with a black eye, and Tom says...

- "Well, I'll get him." - Yeah.

So, now, Tom, he's going all around the neighborhood,

he's looking for Donnie's big brother, right?

So, did you find him?

I did. He gave me a black eye, too.

So, here he is, sitting in the grass, crying.

I was not crying.

He looked so pathetic.

He had no one but his best friend sitting next to him.

And that, that is when she stole my best friend.

That's when I fell in love with him.

Firefighter stuff is just a stepping stone.

I figure it's just a matter of time

before I get picked for one of those hottest firefighter calendars.

And then, off to the races, baby.

But, hey, you know, it pays the bills, right?

California, that's where you want to be.

You know, I bet, as firemen,

we would totally outrank everybody on beach patrol.

I mean, can you imagine

if they let me walk around all day with my shirt off?

- Man, it would cause a riot. - (MOUTHING)

Hey, will you excuse me, Steve?

Okay, sure.

So, Kevin, he meets this girl, right?

Real California type...

Nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Happy New Year!

Come on, let's go, bath time.

Sarah?

Well, I'm going to do some blood tests,

I'm going to get a CT done. And if I need to, a follow-up MRI.

We'll just hold her in observation for right now.

Let her relax, get some fluids in her and we'll go from there, okay?

Why does Mommy keep getting sick?

I don't know.

Will she be better soon?

We're going to keep praying for that every day.

Do you have any questions, Mr. Hatcher?

Mr. Hatcher?

Uh...

The treatment is aggressive, but at this stage...

Her doctor said it was just migraines.

The hospital has counselors on hand.

And there are also some

wonderful cancer support groups, too.

I'll do everything I can to help her, Mr. Hatcher,

including pray for her.

I thought doctors weren't supposed to talk about religion.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a follower of Christ.

Tom.

What is it, babe?

Can you feel him?

Feel who?

God.

His love.

Can you feel it?