By Jesse Hughey
Staff Writer
	For almost eight months, the Rev. Lyle Benson held on to the
blackened pages of a Bible that burned inside his church last summer. The
Bible smoldered for five days, preventing the church from catching fire,
and Benson believed the ashes were worth saving.
	Benson used the ashes this week. He combined them with water from
Israel's Jordan River for use at Aubrey United Methodist Church's Ash
Wednesday service. About 20 people came to the service, in which Benson
made a cross-shaped smudge of ash on the foreheads and a cross-shaped smear
of the Jordan River water on the hands of those in attendance, then shared
Holy Communion.
	Ash Wednesday begins the Christian Lenten season, which ends with
Easter. Traditionally, burnt palm leaves are used in the Ash Wednesday
service, but Benson believed the Bible's ashes fit the symbolism of the
observance. The water from the Jordan River was a gift from a friend.
	"I didn't want to throw the ashes away," Benson said. "I saw them
as something special and thought using them at Ash Wednesday would be a
good way to share the story."
	Since the incident last July, church members have referred to the
Bible as the "Miracle Bible." The fire was caused by an Advent candle left
burning or incompletely snuffed that rekindled and tipped over. From July
6-10, the Bible smoldered, burning through the wooden altar table and
falling to the carpet below, then burning through the carpet and pad to the
wooden floor.
	Choir members discovered the smoldering remains of the Bible at a
Thursday evening practice. To their amazement, the fire had not spread or
caused significant damage. The wood floor was scorched, and the altar table
had to be replaced.
	The church building was cleared of smoke in time for the following
Sunday services, although the smell lingered for weeks.
	"Some people call it a coincidence," Benson said. "I say, it's at
least a 'Godcidence' - a coincidence where God is involved. Others say it's
a miracle."
	Benson was out of town the week of the fire, and a guest pastor
substituted for him the Sunday the fire started.
	"The next Sunday, I said in my message that it's easy to point
fingers and blame someone," Benson said. "But don't worry about who could
have done what. We'll use this as a celebration of God's grace."
	Choir member Kelby Trusty first discovered the fire. He said the
smoke was initially mistaken for an insecticide fogger. The choir was going
to practice at a different site without reporting the smoke, but he and
choir director Colleen Darraugh decided to go back into the church to check
out the smoke and grab a few hymnals.
	"Before we left, I thought, 'Well, let me just check,'" Trusty
said. "It didn't smell like a bug bomb to me. I went to the middle of the
church and picked up the hymnals and saw the Bible, and I could tell it was
a fire waiting to happen."
	Darraugh called the fire department on her cell phone after the
discovery.
	Trusty agreed with Benson that the fire was at least "a very weird
coincidence."
	"I can't believe the Bible itself didn't flame up and cause a
fire," he said. "Everything around the fire was wood or paper."
	Darraugh called it a miracle.
	"I do think it was a miracle because it smoldered for days," she
said. "Logically, you could say it's paper, so it burns longer. But the
candle could have fallen in another direction. And the carpet didn't catch
fire.
	"You can do all the 'ifs' you want, or you can call it a miracle."
	The firefighters who responded could not believe the fire had not
spread, Trusty said.
	"They looked around and said, 'Are you sure this is the only place
you found it? There has to be more.' They were scratching their heads,"
Trusty said.
	 The insurance adjustor who inspected the damage was surprised as
well, Benson said.
	"He said he had never seen anything like it," Benson said.
	Church member Andy Ganzer found a small piece of the Bible's
binding that hadn't burned. He had it framed with an article Darraugh wrote
about the event.
	Though he believes God protected the church from serious damage,
Benson doesn't want to take any chances in the future.
	"We have improved our candle lighting process," he said. "We have
an acolyte who lights the candles at the beginning of the service, and he
makes certain the candles are out."
David Lewis, Editor
Pilot Point Post-Signal