Building a fire - Big logs.

These are just some thoughts I'd had while camping recently concerning how to build the fire of God in your life. Read Part 1, and Part 2.

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It was the thick logs of wood that truly got my attention.
It changed my constant efforts to keep a fire alive to sitting back and enjoying a fire.

Where the other items, my paper, and my small sticks lasted only minutes - this... this gave us hours of enjoyment. It burned, deep and thick. And my heart cried - God, give me logs!

That spiritual burning that doesn't ever let up, that still stayed hot after we poured water on it before turning in for the night, that heat that radiated hours after we'd stopped adding wood.

The steadiness of it all, the ease of it was... mind-boggling.

But it came at a cost. The other items just took the time to pick up and stuff on the fire. Wood though, if I had not purchased it at the store would have cost me manual labor of cutting logs myself. It is not as easy as picking up stray sticks. It takes pre-meditation and effort. Or in my case, money. Which ultimately equals labor at work to earn the money.
In other words - It didn't come free.

And as I've spent the last week and a half thinking about it I have considered what those logs would be in my spiritual life.

I would compare them to time spent in earnest prayer. For every fan of the few minutes of conversation with God just before you go to bed - I think you'll see there's a difference.

I would compare them to time spent speaking in tongues and asking God for interpretation.

I would compare them to time spent not just reading the Bible but studying the Word. Seeking out answers and new/fresh revelations.

And lastly, I would compare it to time spent memorizing Gods word.

You may have some things that would add to this list. I'd love to read them if you'd like to contribute.

The logs are where the meat is. You can get saved and sit around enjoying your random stick fire. It burns bright and fast.

But me, I want logs. I want my life to be filled with time spent gathering logs in my life that will burn long and hot. It also provides more enjoyment and less searching.

Building a fire - Small sticks

These are just some thoughts I'd had while camping recently concerning how to build the fire of God in your life. Read part 1 here.

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To say that the kids and I scavenged for sticks is putting it mildly. I even hung off a steep hill clutching a fence to stay upright while reaching with my foot for a larger stick (the crowning jewel of the stick world). I got it too. :)

And actually my very first fire was just small sticks. That's all we had so I gathered as much as possible with my two semi-willing recruits and then we made fire.

Within 5 minutes I knew my little sticks were not quite up to par. I spent the next 10 minutes no where near the fire as I searched for something, anything, to keep my little fire afire. Coming back with more sticks I still enjoyed less than 15 minutes of fire. It wasn't going to last. It was beautiful, and warming, and wonderful to behold for the time I had it, but sticks just weren't good enough.

So I went out and despite my personal feelings of being ripped off at paying $4.50 for 7 split pieces of wood, I ultimately ended up getting two bundles.

The sticks still going fairly well, I added two logs to the fire and away we went. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying a wonderful flame and warmth.

The next morning, however, when I went to build another fire I had a harder time finding sticks (since we'd pilfered the area fairly well). So I didn't have quite as many sticks under my logs.
Because of that I almost didn't get a fire going.

You see, the big logs take awhile to truly "catch". Paper doesn't last long enough to catch the big logs on fire. But the paper catches the little sticks, and the little sticks burn long enough to catch the logs.

There's a good system to it all.

As I think about my life and the little sticks in my life I want to compare the little sticks to the day to day encounters with Christ. Not just the little moments where you hear a song and feel Him, but when you make sure and read your 3 chapters, 5 chapters, or how ever many you read, every single day. Or pray for 20 minutes each morning. Whatever your routine is.

I think the little sticks are the every day small things that we take for granted and consider unimportant.

We skip our daily reading because, hey, it's only 3 chapters. I can make it up tomorrow or something, today is busy. Talk to God before I go to bed? Well, I would but man, it's been a day and I'm exhausted. God won't mind. It's not like it's that big a deal.

But for every stick you take off your pile, you'll have a harder time catching the big logs on fire. My first campfire eventually burned brightly, with beautiful flames.
My second campfire with less sticks, had trouble getting started and while it burned it mostly burned hot rather than with real flames that I could watch and enjoy.

It made a real impact on me watching how the second fire had so much trouble. I'd put so much importance on the big logs yesterday... ohhh if only I could have a big log that would burn forever and my fire would then be strong and last.

But my big logs just weren't enough on their own. The foundation of those little sticks led to a beautiful bright fire. Even though they had seemed so useless on the first fire since they burnt out so quickly.

As I've said, it's easy to take for granted the small foundational things like regular prayer and reading Gods word. But it's vital.
At least if you want to build a big fire one day.
And I personally want a bonfire that will put Texas A&M to shame. :)

Building a fire - Paper First

I love camping.

If I could find some way to keep my clothes clean and neat looking so I could go to work every day - I'd happily live in a tent for the rest of my days. Especially now that I've mastered the rain fly. And no longer wake up swimming.

So this weekend, when we went camping, I absolutely enjoyed myself. *Despite the fact that I did ridicule the fact that our campground failed to actually have a "campsite" and instead called a slab of rock and a picnic table a "site". Lazy L 'n L Campground? Let me just tell you: people expect grass. They also expect to be able to be able to stake their tent to the ground without the assistance of a sledge hammer and railroad spikes. Really.

I still loved it through.

And I got to perform one of my favorite duties - making a campfire. And sitting there, watching the campfire glow and burn I couldn't help but compare the real fire to the spiritual Holy Ghost fire that I desire in my life. And I immediately began wondering if the construction of the two fires might be similar.

Since I tend to be long-winded I'm going to separate this into different posts that I'll be posting during the week. So stay tuned.

It was the construction of the fire that I began thinking about - the different elements to it. The first one being paper.

I'd rummaged through our things, and cars looking for scrap paper to put at the bottom of what would be my campfire.
Of the wood and sticks that would go on the fire, paper bits light the easiest. Just a small click of our lighter wand and the paper ignites easily. I need the paper, because it helps light the small sticks that are above it.

In my own life, in my own spiritual "fiery" moments, I've got my paper moments.
Songs that I might sing that just make me come undone with love for God such as "When I think about the Lord - It makes me wanna shout", or "Alabaster box".
Sometimes just listening to other people pray begins a small flame, or when I have just a small conversation with God because I want to add my own thoughts to someone elses blessing over dinner. They're all just little things but they provoke an instant, physical response within me as something rushes over me and I bask in the moment.

But they are just paper moments. The song ends, the prayer ends, or whatever the moment was it's just over. The paper fizzles out and it's done. It was beautiful, and bright, and wonderful - but it's over now. Because those pieces of paper don't sustain you any more than one bite of meat a day, or one sip of water. They're just wonderful moments.

Thank you Lord for the paper moments in my life. I can't live off them, but without them I would never build up to what's coming.