February 20
It Only Takes a Spark
It only takes a spark remember to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary….
James 3:5-7 (The Message)
My 9-year old son saw it first. He was selling items at a homemade stand on the street corner when he noticed black smoke two blocks away. He came running to his mom concerned about a fire. So ... she called 911. I thought nothing of it. I mean, someone was burning debris, right? Little did I know this was the beginning of a brushfire on 40 acres and would cause 150 homes to be evacuated.
My boy Alex stood next to his mother as we watched the smoke rise and heard the distant whine of sirens. “I’m scared, Mom. Can we please go now? Can we leave?”
For the moment, all we saw was the black plume billowing over rooftops. Then the wind picked up and we saw the fire. The flames roared into view. They moved like a freight train past the open end of our block. It was breathtaking. Alex clung to his mother as my jaw dropped open. The orange and red flashed hot and suddenly the small grove of junipers it had swallowed belched flames 60 feet into the air. Huge tongues of fire soared over the tops of two-story homes. It became an instant no brainer, and we were leaving fast.
As we loaded the car, a truck raced by, it’s speaker telling us to evacuate. Unfortunately, curious onlookers blocked the streets hindering our departure, but soon we were safely away. Three boys, a dog and my son’s laptop were all that came with us. We watched the battle for Sandalwood subdivision from the top of Pilot Butte, two-miles away. With the winds as strong as they were, it took numerous firefighters and US Forest Service personnel over two hours to subdue it. It would take another two hours to get back into the neighborhood. It wasn’t fun, not really.
The next day, we looked at the charred brush and the skeletons of toasted junipers, now black, chalky toothpicks. I reminded myself, kids with matches can do a lot of harm. No one died, no homes were lost, but what a picture. And what a great reminder to watch my words. James reminds you and me just how bad it can get. Careless words can do that. They can ruin everything, so let’s watch it. Let’s choose our words wisely and use them to build bridges. Let’s avoid setting off fires … at all costs.
LORD, guard my lips. Guide my tongue. Amen.
It Only Takes a Spark
It only takes a spark remember to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary….
James 3:5-7 (The Message)
My 9-year old son saw it first. He was selling items at a homemade stand on the street corner when he noticed black smoke two blocks away. He came running to his mom concerned about a fire. So ... she called 911. I thought nothing of it. I mean, someone was burning debris, right? Little did I know this was the beginning of a brushfire on 40 acres and would cause 150 homes to be evacuated.
My boy Alex stood next to his mother as we watched the smoke rise and heard the distant whine of sirens. “I’m scared, Mom. Can we please go now? Can we leave?”
For the moment, all we saw was the black plume billowing over rooftops. Then the wind picked up and we saw the fire. The flames roared into view. They moved like a freight train past the open end of our block. It was breathtaking. Alex clung to his mother as my jaw dropped open. The orange and red flashed hot and suddenly the small grove of junipers it had swallowed belched flames 60 feet into the air. Huge tongues of fire soared over the tops of two-story homes. It became an instant no brainer, and we were leaving fast.
As we loaded the car, a truck raced by, it’s speaker telling us to evacuate. Unfortunately, curious onlookers blocked the streets hindering our departure, but soon we were safely away. Three boys, a dog and my son’s laptop were all that came with us. We watched the battle for Sandalwood subdivision from the top of Pilot Butte, two-miles away. With the winds as strong as they were, it took numerous firefighters and US Forest Service personnel over two hours to subdue it. It would take another two hours to get back into the neighborhood. It wasn’t fun, not really.
The next day, we looked at the charred brush and the skeletons of toasted junipers, now black, chalky toothpicks. I reminded myself, kids with matches can do a lot of harm. No one died, no homes were lost, but what a picture. And what a great reminder to watch my words. James reminds you and me just how bad it can get. Careless words can do that. They can ruin everything, so let’s watch it. Let’s choose our words wisely and use them to build bridges. Let’s avoid setting off fires … at all costs.
LORD, guard my lips. Guide my tongue. Amen.
posted by Craig Soderquist at 5:27 AM
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