That Unforgettable Day His House Was
Destroyed by Fire
By Sheilah Belle
TBR — Exclusive –Ft. Lauderdale, FL — It was on Tuesday afternoon, October 14, 2014 at approximately 4:30p.m. when a fire started in the basement of the suburban West Bloomfield home of Grammy and Stellar winning Gospel recording artist J Moss.
The fire quickly spread from the basement ultimately destroying the entire family home. Moss said he was alone and his wife and his two sons had not returned home from school yet.
Recently we got a chance to sit down and talk to Moss about that unbelievable day and how he got through it.
Belle: So how are you?
Moss: I’m good. I tell people, out of the most sincerest place in my heart that my soul is a really really ecstatic, because I know what God has shown me and how he has favored me and my family. So yeah, we are doing really well. I know people want me to be sad and they want me to be devastated and they want me to be hurt and want me to be like “Oh my God” or doing a sort of “struggle is over kind of campaign” I’m not there and I’ve never been there. I understand that I was blessed enough, to get out of that fire and that the Lord was covering me the whole time. But the Lord also let me know, right from the beginning, that he was not trying to kill me. You’re not on punishment with me, but I’m trying to take you to a place of where I need you to be. I know where you going to be in 6 months. I know where you’re going to be in a year or two. God knows all of this stuff. So he was telling me, I gotta prepare you, I have to prepare you my way, because I know what you’re going to be up against. Really, all he was saying was, that all of this, just ties into it. So my spirit, my soul and my inner man is just on cloud nine, because I’m just so so so anxious to see what God has in store.
Belle: Where were you when the fire started and how did it start?
Moss: I was looking right at it the studio. I was in the lower level of the home, inside the studio working on post production for the new record, when I heard some noises. So I came out and I investigated and what I found was an electrical outlet that had a battery charger in it, that was charging the battery. But before I knew it, before trying run to the electrical panel to cut the switches off, I was too late. The battery exploded, charger exploded and everything just went up in flames and it was the most beautiful site I had ever seen. I had never seen a fire that gorgeous before in my life. It was as if the fire was trying to hypnotize me. So yeah it crazy.
Belle: So it started in the basement then spread all over the house?
Moss: Yeah, it started in the basement then spread all over the house. Then once I realized that I was not a match for it and stopped staring at it like a crazy person, God snatched me out of that, then I ran upstairs. I was trying to find a fire extinguisher which I never found and then I ran out of the front door. I had two double doors in the front of the house, but once I opened those doors, oxygen raced in and the fire chased me upstairs and incinerated the whole crib. It took it all out, six minutes top.
Belle: Were you able to salvage anything?
Moss: NOTHING. Everything is gone and the Lord tapped me and said, now when you sing to people, you are going to know who you are singing to. You are going to know what that feeling of homelessness feels like, that feeling of hopelessness, that feeling of all it’s all lost, don’t have nothing else, the feeling of being stripped down to the clothes on your back. He said, now when you sing to them, you’re singing from a place of experience not just something you saw on the news. God was like, I got you where I need you now and with an extra dose of passion and your anointing is going to be just that more potent.
Belle: So where have u been living since the fire? Where did you go?
Moss: Just 24 hours after the blaze had gone out, Got sent somebody to us and dropped keys in our hands of a brand new mansion, fully furnished, on the water, gated community…the whole nine, just 24 hours after the fire took place. GAVE IT TO US! I still haven’t signed a piece of paper. I called the company and the man that did it. But I called, because it was almost unbelievable which I kick myself for everyday because that’s how God works. But being a man and a provider of my family, I had to make sure he wasn’t going to come knocking on our door, in about a week, talking about, okay you guys found a place to live yet? So when I called him, I said, “So man is this true? Do you want us to stay for a couple of days or until we get on our feet.” But he said. “No. It’s the least I can do. You guys have blessed millions of people J. Your ministry has touched me and my family.” He said, “The least I can do is put you all up somewhere and make sure you’re comfortable, at least until your house is rebuilt. And then he added, “And if you want to stay here and don’t want to move back to your old house we can talk about that. We can do whatever you want to do, but right now, all I want you to do is to be comfortable.” So we’ve been comfortable, ever since the day, after the fire.
Belle: Did you know this man?
Moss: We know him. He’s a friend of ours, but we didn’t know he was sitting on resources like that.
Belle: So they are rebuilding your house right now?
Moss: Yes, they are rebuilding our house, right now.
Belle: When did they say it would be ready?
Moss: We will probably be displaced for about 8 months. It’s an 8 month to a year kind of process, so we don’t expect to be back in there until the FALL, if we decide to go back.
Belle: So where you are now, does it compare to where you were?
Moss: Oh yeah, and it was like God was saying, I don’t want you guys to feel like you’re in trouble. I don’t want you guys to have to struggle, trying to cope with how you have been living for the last 10 years. And that part can actually be half the battle because that can be depressing. I mean coming from the level of how we have been living. I mean make no mistake, everybody knows J Moss. I’m blessed, and I’ve been successful in the music business, so yes, we live a certain kind of way, so yes, it would have been hard, to live in a temporary house, and that’s being real and on the human side. And don’t get me wrong, YES, we are extremely grateful, but we also recognized that the Lord made it so, we didn’t have that struggle to overcome and I love Him for that!
Belle: How is your wife and kids adjusting to everything going on?
Moss: It’s been rough. We still have days and moments when we think back. I wish we had our favorite blanket, or I wish we had our favorite ice maker in our refrigerator. I wish we had our covers and our blankets, but we recognize it as a new challenge and we all have embraced the fact that, GOD is doing something miraculous. For Him to show up like he showed up, immediately after the devastation, we know something is coming down the road. We don’t care what it is, but we’re ecstatic just on knowing that we’re in and that we got the parts. We went through the audition, we got our phone call and we made the team and right now and we just riding and trust God every step of the way.
(Photo credit: The Belle Report)
