The fire that’s still blazing here only a few miles from where we live in California is finally getting under control.  It’s taken over 60 homes and over 70,000 acres.  Sobering for sure.  I thought I’d take a few minutes here as the thought is on my mind to compare some fire types that we should be impacted by as communities.  One fire that is obvious during the summer in a more heart-warming sense is a warming fire, a camp fire.  My family and I look forward to sitting around a camp fire night after night this summer with some friends, sing some worship songs, pray, encourage one another, talk about life, hopes, dreams, challenge each other, and otherwise simply enjoy each other’s company and some refreshing treats and good eats.

Another kind of fire is what we’ve been witnessing piles of smoke from up in the hills to the east of Merced, CA.  Forest fires are no joke and the closest we have here on earth to the fire of God’s eternal wrath.  We must and ought to remember to fear God and stand in wonder of His grace to send His Son to die in our place and take this fire of God’s wrath upon Himself.  Only the God-man, Jesus, could take this wrath in full and not vanish from existence.  You, Oh Lord, took our grief and bore it fully.  You now burn with love for us who believe in You and follow hard after You.  You ever make intercession for us with the Father, bearing our souls on Your heart, stating what You’ve done for us, finishing the work of redeeming us from hell and damnation, the stuff of God’s wrath that we so deserve.

Finally, a kind of fire I long to see more and more of in our community would be spiritual passion for following in the way of Jesus Christ, the manner of life He lived when He physically walked this earth (1 John 2:6).  What an amazing experience it would be to walk along in this life with a few passionate souls fully devoted to a life like Jesus lived!  It’s a passionate life, not necessarily always full of emotion so much as deep and real drive to know God and make God known to a hurting, sinful, and dying world.  May the fire of God’s love burn in and through us to this world.  If we do not share the hope of our salvation with those we encounter, who will?  God set things up through Jesus life and manner of living among us in such a way that we can follow very simply.  We can love the least of those, those hard pressed by the trials and sorrows of this life.  This is true greatness, brokenness in the presence of true need and sorrow, showing the love and light of Jesus to those we encounter and in so doing encountering that same light in our souls!

Enjoy your day, friends.

-Torrey