Fire- Out of Control

Fire! Out of control!!!!

A missionary friend from Africa told me of his encounter with fire, it went like this:

Flames eagerly climbed up the trees, consuming their dry branches. The whole yard sent heat waves up to the sky. I was about 7 years old at the time. Our neighbors in Africa had not cut their grass for the longest while. We were in the dry season, so the grass had dried up and the whole yard looked really terrible. I decided to be a good neighbor and help them out. I grabbed some matches and went over to their yard. I thought to myself, if the fire spreads to where it should not go, I'll just stomp it out before it gets too big. This time though, stomping was no help! The fire spread so fast that I had to rescue myself from the flames. It took the cooperation of the whole neighborhood to put out the massive flames (there was no dependable fire department).

Have you felt as if things have gotten out of control? People often think that they can stop sinning at any time. The devil would like us to believe that we are in control. However, small sins grow quickly and, like a fire, can get out of control.

What area of your life could cause a potential wildfire?

1Pet 5:8, 9 - "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

Another fire story:
Two things….the fire story reminded me of when I was about 10 or so. We lived out on the edge of Yakima, Washington near the tracks. We used to burn our garbage. Dad was away for the day and told me not to burn the garbage. But, unfortunately, I did. Well, it was windy….I put too much garbage in the big metal drum and started burning. Well, it was very windy (we were not supposed to burn it in the wind, too) and the wind blew the flames out of the bin and the fire got on to the grass and headed towards the weed filled field that separated us and our neighbors and the railroad tracks. Well, mother called the fire department and though it didn’t take but a while for them to get to our house, I was “dying” knowing that the fire was heading towards the property of others that now I had no control of. Praise the Lord they got the fire out without a whole lot of damage, except to our apricot trees and our back yard. They also kept the fire from getting to our house. Needless to say, that night when my dad got home….shall I say, I didn’t sit for a day or two!

We should learn from our mistakes, and it may be obvious that we don’t always do that. As a boy, my brother Rocky was always ahead of me. He was my big brother that I followed. I had the best of brothers. One day however we were in that same field and Rocky and some friends of ours had some big firecrackers- M80’s and I don’t know what all. The issue was, “how far in the sky would a gallon can go if the firecrackers were lit at the same time?” That burning question resulted in the dry weeds surrounding the launch site catching on fire. It was the sixth or eighth time running from the site to the house to call the fire department or come back and fight the fire, and trying to put out the fire that finally we decided that though we didn’t want to, we needed to call the fire department.

When they came it was only but a moment when the fire was put out and all was well- almost. The firemen asked to talk to our Mom. When we got Mom, the fireman in charge asked about us setting the fire. Mom confidently said, “I can vouch for these boys, they are good boys!” The fireman said, “Yes, but these good boys set the field on fire.” Indeed we had. Roger, Jerry, and Marvin, Rocky and I were all regular church attendees, but that day, we had set the field on fire. We needed the fire department.

There are times in our lives that we are out of control. The issue may be that we thought we could control the situation or the activity. Please be aware that we each may have the need for the Lord to help us, to enter our existence and put out the Fire!
Call on me and I will answer you saith the Lord, I will show thee great and mighty things. Jeremiah 33:3. It may be that we are waiting to see how we fare against the issues of life on our own. We need the Lord! He is able, He is Mighty, He can when we cannot, He is the deliverer, and he is the one we can rely.