“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” Job 23:10
I love the sight of a campfire.
It’s mesmerizing. The flames, reds, yellows, whites and blues. The crackle of the wood. Coals that light up any night, making it perfect for smores. Memories are made around its ring, and you generally end up smelling like smoke for a week.
But I’ve never loved the idea of jumping in the flames.
It’s like common sense right? You sit around the fire. You sing songs next to a fire. No one just walks forward and puts both feet in the middle of the flame.
duh.
And aside from a couple biblical characters and one of the first original narcissists, I don’t recall that turning out well at all.
So, fire—yea, it’s one of my favorite things… at a distance.
But then there was training camp.
Sleeping in a tent (that part I loved), eating food from different countries, one shower (my choice), morning and evening dew/humidity (what the?), laughter beyond words, dance parties, worship sessions, teachings, team building activities, overflowing love, and God— God asking me to get closer to the flames than I ever would have liked.
God asking me to jump IN.
I think we’d like to say we have it together. Because who honestly likes dealing with insecurities, and lies we’ve chosen to believe, and taking the hard way out instead of the easy way?
But I met my family for this next year and a half, if not for the rest of my life, who won’t let me skip around the issues. We surrounded each other and cried with one another as we saw and loved the real and messed up us.
And I began to realize, that perhaps…
“fire is used to burn off the ropes that bind us, not burn us.”
– Holley Gerth
I was selected to be a team leader this upcoming year. It means that I’m in charge of 6 other individuals, not including myself, to love, grow, and live life in a third world country with. Pray for wisdom. Pray for unity. Pray for abounding love. Our team name?– ‘The Unexpected.’
Because we desire to have no expectations other than God to show up.
Because we didn’t expect that all of us would be placed on the same team together.
Because we’re all so different.
But because we’re a body that wants to work together and walk through the fires victoriously. And I can’t wait.
–So, while my name may not be Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego, and I’m not living in Ancient Babylon, I’ll be getting close to the heat.
And I’ll have to go through fire.
But the flames will bring freedom.
And not just to myself, but to the world we’re around.
