When I prepared to come into town on Monday, June 23, I wasn’t ready for what I encountered. Hovering smoke and the smell of burning wood was in the air. At first I thought it was cool. Later I learned that fires were blazing all around us. From some friends, I also discovered the potential for real disaster.
I’ve never experienced the ominous threat of having all of my stuff engulfed in flames and reduced to ash. I love fire, but I prefer the contained and manageable flames over which we roast hot dogs and marshmallows.
Fire cooks the food that sustains our lives, but it also kills. I’m not telling you anything new with that statement. It just reminds me of the many Christians throughout the centuries who have faced lethal flames because of uncompromised convictions. Courageous lovers of Jesus have sacrificed life and limb to the fire because there are ideas and people worth dying for. Only firefighters should venture into the flames burning all around us in Shasta County. And we pray for their safety. My spiritual ancestors walked into the fires with the flames of passion burning in their hearts for the Lord. The heat and flames consumed their flesh, but the torturers didn’t account for the life-giving water in their souls.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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