By Stan Friedman
YONKERS, NY (September 20, 2013) – Michael Carrion, pastor of Promised Land Covenant Church, and his family were able to move into a new house this week, exactly 60 days after barely escaping a fire that engulfed their home in the Bronx.
The family of four and their two dogs had been living with an associate pastor of Promised Land since the fire.
Carrion said he and his family still are processing what happened to them.
The family was forced to flee their home in the Bronx when a fire broke out in the multi-unit home next door resulting in an explosion that sent flames rushing across an alley into his building. Carrion’s son, Joshua, ran into his parents’ bedroom screaming, “There’s a fire!”
“Had my 21-year-old son not been up, we would not be having this conversation,” Carrion said at the time. “My whole family would be dead.”
More than 250 firefighters from 60 units fought the blaze, which destroyed all of the family’s belongings and killed their two cats.
“I’m not going to lie to you. I was very broken the first two weeks,” Carrion said. “I was angry.” A turning point for Carrion came several weeks after the fire while his family attended camp at Pilgrim Pines Conference Center, where Tom Nelson, pastor of Cape Cod Covenant Church, was speaking.
“He was exactly what I needed,” Carrion said. “I went there on Monday just broken. By Thursday I was rejuvenated. He just brought it.”
He had taken a sabbatical in the two months since the fire and preached for the first time last Sunday. “I know I’m still going to be processing this for a long time,” he said.
Support poured in from friends, including Covenanters from around the country. “I am very, very grateful,” Carrion said. “We had a great response from across the Covenant, and we are so thankful for the Minister’s Crisis Fund. I’ve always been excited about being in the Covenant but especially now.”
