17/09/2011
Since we first arrived here a couple of weeks ago our teams have enjoyed seeing the amazing beauty of the grassy, boulder strewn hillsides of Swaziland. In the morning we sit on an enormous rock in our front yard, sip coffee from mugs, read our Bibles and watch the lightening of the sky. In the evenings we congregate on the rock once again with cameras in hand to capture what is always a spectacular, vibrant sunset. Once the flaming red ball has dropped and the wounded pink sky has turned to black we turn our attention to the lines of fire that eagerly snake their way across every hilltop devouring the dry grass and leaving black scorched earth in it’s wake.
These enormous grass fire shows have turned into a common form of entertainment and a rather nice touch to our worship nights as we praise God, our all consuming fire, out on the rock. At first we believed, or wrongly assumed, that these fires were intentionally started and controlled. The fact that not one of the locals mentions them or seems all that concerned about them seemed to support that theory. But in reality they’re wildfires and no one actually sets them. Our contact told us that they happen every year at this time and are so normal that no one is really alarmed by them. Think about that, night after night we watch wildfires ripping through the hills around us and it’s entertainment.
Only on the World Race…
Thursday night began as a pretty normal night. We were excited about our girls movie night complete with popcorn plus the snaking wildfires out behind our house that seemed to be spelling out the word ‘God’. But I’ve been praying for some stuff to write blogs about and eating popcorn while watching ‘Water for Elephants’ isn’t really blog worthy material. But our God provides…
The fires that we were watching that night got a little too close for comfort. Our first hint that things might be a little dodgy? We were told to have everything packed up and ready to go just in case we had to evacuate. Soon after it became clear that the fires near our rooms were close but well contained by the fire break. The next concern was the baby house. Another long snaking wildfire was whipping rapidly in that direction. When we went to see what was going on we were all handed leafy branches, told to stand near the fire break and beat out the flames with our sticks when it came near.
Girls night quickly became a night of fighting fire with a stick.
After really enjoying ourselves, taking pictures and video clips while beating out the flames at the fire break things got kind of serious. While El Shaddai is surrounded by firebreaks that are carefully maintained – the school beside El Shaddai is not. The fire swiftly started to move in the direction of the school.
Half of our group ran ahead and got on the other side of the fire to head it off. The other half remained where they were and began to work faster. Chaos followed. We beat the flames with our branches moving as fast as we could to get ahead of the fire so that is wouldn’t jump the fence into the school yard. The firebreak had ended so we were working in longer grass and the smoke got thicker because there was actually fuel for the fire to burn.
Several people ran ahead and jumped the fence to the school just minutes before the fire did. Somehow in the craziness that followed we were able to stop the fire from burning down the school and beat it out of the school yard. At that point everyone was exhausted. I decided to go back along with several other people. About 20 minutes after we got back someone called us on the cellphone asking if a few people could come back to help. The fire had circled back around and was threatening the school again.
After another round of fire fighting the fire was out and the school was safe.
In the quiet that followed there was time to stop and reflect on what we had actually seen take place that night. Deut. 4:24 says:
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
That verse says a lot about the character and the movement of God is our lives. A consuming, relentless fire can actually be really scary if you get caught in it’s path. Not a lot survives in the path of a fire like that. The thing is unlike the fire we were fighting the other night that tried to take down the school God only consumes that which is dead in our lives. And when all of that dead debris is gone we can truly be free.
But what does it mean to be truly free? What does it look like when the all consuming fire rages through our lives and burns away all of the stuff that keeps us from living our lives in abundance? And I’m not just talking about burning up our sinful stuff because that stuff gets covered by the blood of Jesus when we first believe. The thing is when we first come to Christ and get that glorious blood bath we don’t always fully believe that all of that stuff is gone. So we live like slaves and hang out in the prisons we’ve been set free from even though the door is standing wide open.
Read this very carefully and let it sink in…
The fact that you get blindsided by lies and trapped in prisons of withdrawal, comparison, reget, bitterness and excuse makes God furious on your behalf because he knows what he paid for. He knows how free you really are and he is directly opposed to anything that tries to take that away from you.
That is what the all consuming fire consumes when you surrender and stop beating out the flames so he can move freely through your life. And please take note that this is not directed at people who have never gone to church before, this is for the Church. This is for the people who sit in the pews, love God, live good lives and still find themselves living from a place of insecurity and guilt. Which, be honest, to some degree that’s all of us.
The truth is you have been set FREE. It’s a done deal folks.
The God that you serve is amazing beyond description and the love that he has for you… AH! You will never, ever comprehend it. Never. You were not created to live a life that is limited or driven by fears. The fullness of who he is gives you life that is more full, satisfying and abundant than you can ever achieve in your own strength. You were created and redeemed to live that out on the earth.
Do you believe that? Do you REALLY believe that? Do you LIVE that way?
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So, I expected this to be the end of my wildfire blog. Turns out expectations really are constantly trashed on the World Race.
That was only round 1 of World Race versus Fire…
