Light the Fire (Part 4)

It was a beautiful night. Clear skies, cool temperatures, just a hint of a breeze. School was out and the kids were looking for something to do. Somehow they all descended on our house and decided to go up the hill in our backyard and have a bonfire. This was no problem, since I have plenty of wood stacked up there for just such an occasion, and I would rather have the kids here than who knows where.

They headed up the hill and I sat down to watch some TV. About half an hour later one of the kids came in and asked, "Lance, could you come get our fire started?"

I said, "Sure," and headed up the hill to see what was going on. After all, starting a fire should not be that difficult.

When I got to the top of the hill, I immediately saw the problem. They had stacked several logs, 3-4 inches in diameter, on top of a few wadded newspapers and set the paper on fire. Of course the paper burned out long before the big logs had caught fire.

I went down to my garage and found an old piece of 1 x 12 pine lumber and my tomahawk. (Every good mountain man has a tomahawk close by!) I walked back up to the top of the hill and quickly sliced the board into small pieces. WHICK! WHICK! WHICK! (The kids were quite impressed by my mountain man skills!) I then shaved off some smaller pieces, making a good little pile of kindling.

I put the kindling down, propped some small pieces of pine on top of it and set it ablaze. As the fire grew I gradually added larger pieces until they had a good, roaring fire.

One match. No paper. Two minutes and they had a great fire, where they had spent 30 minutes before with no luck. What was the difference?

Kindling.

Small pieces of wood, cut even smaller so they would catch fire quickly.

God wants to set us ablaze. He wants to ignite a fire in us that will burn bright and illuminate the darkness around us. But sometimes we are too big to catch. We build ourselves up and think more highly of ourselves than we should.

This is why He sometimes whittles us down to size.

The next time you find yourself with the rug being pulled out from under your feet, or feel as if you are being knocked off your pedestal, you probably are! God is probably cutting you into the size he needs so he can light the fire he wants in you!

Paul said, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you; Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with somber judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has give to you." (Rom. 12:3)

Think about it!