A Winter's Fire and a Lesson Learned

A few years ago I rearranged two rooms in my house so that I could sit by the fire in the winter. I bought wood by the bundle from a convenience store so that I could sit by the fire. I finally broke down and ordered a half cord of wood, which was dumped in my driveway and moved and neatly stacked by two teenage boys so I could sit by the fire. There was only one problem - that wood barely burned. I couldn't just sit by the fire without hours of tending to it. It turned out that the cord of wood was red oak, excellent for generating heat, notorious for resisting ignition. And guess what? I think God showed me something in all that. Because after trying everything I could to get the fire to catch, I stuck in a log from my last bundle from the convenience store. That wood ignites easily and burns fast. The other logs were no longer burning at all, just some embers. I put the new log in and blew and blew and blew on the embers. There was some smoke and that's all. Finally the Spirit whispered to me, "Where there is smoke, there is fire" and somehow I knew I was supposed to stop all my efforts and just wait and see what would happen to the fire. So I did. Shortly after that, the new log burst into flame and the hard, red oak logs also caught on fire. And I learned a spiritual lesson. It's about how to actually accomplish what the Lord has called me to do. See, the hard logs were prepared by all that I had done to try and get the fire started, but it was the presence of the highly flammable log that actually made the fire catch. These days I want to be a highly flammable log. I want to be captured by the fire of God all the time. And let Him do the necessary preparation in the people and circumstances that come into my life. So I then I don't need to do much to get the fire started in those around me, just catch on fire myself!

Welcome to Encounter/Transform!

As part of the experience of Encounter, a unique shop/prayer room/art space in Lititz, PA, I will be sharing inspirational and encouraging thoughts here from time to time.  Be sure to "like" Encounter on Facebook for updates.  Or just "follow" Encounter/Transform!