Adventure! Just savoring the word on the tip of my tongue is an experience – climb a mountain in the Himalayas, snow board down the Alps, hike through the rain forest. The list is endless. To take that first step towards a new adventure – wow!
Nevertheless – Nepal is unlikely to become a new stamp in my passport. These days I tend to stick to launching only small adventurous venues.
The other night, in the midst of winter’s worst snow storm, I went for a walk. Anything to avoid a continued stare at those proverbial four walls while bunkered down to avoid the elements. I chose a few unknown blocks in my neighborhood. Snow flurries were still whirling around in the darkness while ice crunched underneath my feet and frigid temperatures blustered around my person. It did not take long before I longed for the warmth of the inside of my home; while reconnoitering my steps, my eyes spied a small flame of a candle shining in someone’s window. As I paused to look, the flame flared in its candle holder. It drew me towards it with its promise of illuminating warmth.
I thought of the fire in God’s Word and its promise of God’s presence, holiness and glory. “Taste and see” the psalmist invites, and a brief visit to Bible fires becomes an invite to spiritual adventure. The list is extensive; some frequent innumerous sermons. One day fire burned in a bush in the desert by Horeb, God’s mountain, where Moses watched sheep. From that unexpected source came a calling to service; Moses’ obedience launched a lifetime of adventure. Childless Abraham experienced fire as an affirmation of the covenant he had already made with God. From then on Abraham saw a baby’s face in every star sparkling in velvet star-studded nights, someone has said. Elijah’s fire event is rather famous. Yet I Kings 19 tells how the fire opened the door for the still small voice of God whispering his name, exclaiming in a powerful way that Elijah’s last chapter would also be his very best.
The fire of Acts 2 is well known. It was the launch of numerous adventures for disciples, then and now. The Keswick conferences use the metaphor of iron: the cold, black, hard metal without beauty or value. When you hold it in a smelting oven’s hot fire all these characteristics are altered; a transformation towards art or tool usefulness occurs.
Charles Swindoll, in “Fly Closer to the Flame,” focuses our attention to the moth that irresistibly is drawn to the living, burning light – closer and closer until the heat of the light beam consumes its entire existence.
In John 21, by the sea shore, Peter and John had an adventure. In the moment of recognition of the resurrected Jesus, they exclaimed “He has come and built a fire!” That fire set their hearts aflame. Others were lit. These “adventures of fire” can be yours. God is still in the business of spiritual fires. Go for the adventure!
Psalm 38:4 – “Taste and see that the Lord is good…”
Exodus 3 – Moses and a burning bush
Genesis 15 – The Lord’s promise to Abraham
1 Kings 19 – The Lord speaks to Elijah
Acts 2 – The Holy Spirit comes (by way of flames or tongues of fire…)
John 21 – Jesus cooks breakfast
Youth Department