Fire

When was the last time you experienced a trial that made you want to run? And where did you run? Did you run to the arms of the Father? Or did you run away?

When Max was little Geoff and I worked in the Media Center on Wednesday nights at our church. We were the ones who handed out crayons and paper and glue. I thought that was a safe place to put in some time for Jesus without having to teach. :o)

When Max was about 5 years old he came to meet us there after his Bible class and plopped the picture he'd made on the counter. (see above) It consisted of torn pieces of red, orange and yellow construction paper glued all over a larger sheet. Since I knew they had done a lesson on Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego, I asked him if this was a picture of the fiery furnace. He looked at me as if I was not the smartest person in the world and said, "no, it's the fire God puts us in to make us who he wants us to be." My thought was, "What?" I asked his teacher if that's what they had talked about and she said no, they'd talked about the guys in the furnace and the miracle that God got them out. Somehow, in his little amazing brain he had figured out that God was making them into who he needed them to be.

I kept the picture and didn't stash it away with all the other momentos because for some reason I knew I'd need it again some day. I did not understand what it meant then. Later, when I found myself in my own fiery trial I remembered what Max had said. My fiery trial began at that retreat I mentioned a few days ago, the Walk to Emmaus. Mine was to be a cleansing fire. More on that to come.