Our House Should Be a Pile of Ashes and a Chimney

Exploding overnight from 4,000 to 40,000 acres on September 10, the Bridge Fire may be the fastest-spreading fire in California history. Precise numbers are tough to nail down, but it appears that only about a dozen structures in our town of Wrightwood were burned. And most of those were sheds and outbuildings, not homes.

But tragically, some people did lose their homes. And the extensive burn has resulted in the closure for many months of the national forest that surrounds our town. Additionally, one of the local ski resort’s lifts was damaged, likely hampering their opening. This is a blow to the local economy, which is highly dependent on tourists.

Despite these negative circumstances, we’re extremely thankful that the fire didn’t level the entire town. And it looks like we had some divine intervention.

The director of the nearby Catholic camp reported that the fire chief in charge of our immediate area told him the fire should have raced down the canyon ridge behind our house and taken out large swaths of town. The fire chief couldn’t explain why that didn’t happen. Another firefighter reported that the only reason our canyon wasn’t consumed was that the wind unexpectedly stopped at midnight, effectively halting the spread.

Well, we know who controls the wind. Thank you, Jesus!  There were many Christians downwind of the fire who were praying fervently.

We are thankful for God’s gracious answer to our prayers, but let me bring up another side of the issue of answered prayer. Sometimes God responds in the way we ask, and sometimes he doesn’t. The fact that he spared us and not others – like those whose lives were devastated by hurricanes Helene and Milton – is not a reflection of our righteousness or their unworthiness. As Job ultimately learned, there is no direct link between righteousness or sin and blessings or curses.

On the Sunday immediately following our return from the mandatory evacuation, one of our church staff members observed that the typical question we ask when faced with tragedy is “Why? Why did this happen?” A better question, he suggested, is “What? What, God, do you want me to learn from this?” That’s a brilliant insight! Every life circumstance, regardless of whether it’s positive or negative, offers an opportunity to learn more about God and to grow to trust him.  

Despite the fire’s destructive impact, there have been some positives. I’m not offering these as justifications for God’s “behavior.” It always bothers me when someone says, “I could accept this calamity if only I understood what God is up to.” Knowing that would certainly help soften the sting, but God doesn’t owe me any explanations. I have to be OK with never finding out why a particular bad thing happened. But if someone is tuned in, they can recognize and appreciate the positives, even if they’re small.

Here are some of the good things we’ve seen:

• Weathering a stressful situation with others creates a sense of community and camaraderie. In the days immediately following our return from the evacuation, townspeople were joyfully greeting each other with words of gratitude.

• The firefighters and first responders did a heroic job of protecting our town. Hand-written signs expressing deep gratitude sprang up all over town. This was heartwarming.

• Because many people were pretty badly shaken, there was an unusual openness to spiritual conversations, and I was able to have some productive discussions. There’s nothing like almost falling off a cliff to make people reevaluate their circumstances and lives.

• Some of the firefighters were actually inmates from the local low-security prison. The director of the Catholic camp reports that this summer, his camp hosted 250 campers who are children of inmates. How cool is it that the camp that serves inmates’ children was saved in part by inmates!  Townspeople are pursuing hosting a “thank you” party at the prison to thank them for their key role in saving the town.

So, although this was a harrowing experience, God presence has been felt throughout the town. Our hearts go out to the victims of the two recent hurricanes, but we are thankful for the grace he has bestowed on

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Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

Job 2:10

• When something bad happens to you, do you sometimes feel God is punishing you?

• Do you feel that, if God is truly loving and sovereign, he shouldn’t allow bad things to enter your life?

• To what extent are you typically able to find positive glimpses of good even in the hardest of circumstances?

This Fishing Trip Had the Shadow of Death Hanging Over It

My wife Annette’s family always loved fishing. Several years ago, her parents (Ron and Helene) treated her to an absolutely spectacular week at Bolton Lake, a fly-in fishing camp in northern Manitoba, Canada. Getting there involves a one-and-a-half hour flight from Winnipeg in a 20-seat plane to cover the 300 miles from that city. This place is so remote that satellite phones provide the only connection with the outside world. And forget about the Internet.

However, the payoff is huge. Anglers who make the trek are virtually guaranteed to bag several trophy-sized fish. This picture shows one of Annette’s. And, no, it’s not Photo Shopped.

Besides Annette and her parents, their party of twelve included several of her parents’ church friends. Although there were some younger people in the group, they were balanced out by the older folks who brought the average age to somewhere in the Medicare range.  The youngest participants were a businessman in his 40s and his ten-year-old son.

Before they booked the trip, Annette’s parents thought long and hard about the risks. Ron was in his 70s and, since he had been a World War 2 POW, he had lingering health issues. Also, he had been hospitalized a few times in the years right before the trip. The remoteness of the fishing camp was a concern, not only for Ron but also for the other elderly participants. The shadow of death truly hovered over this group.

Fortunately, there were no medical incidents, and the trip was such a success that they made it an annual event.

However, a few years after the initial outing, Ron and Helene called us with the news that someone from the first trip had died suddenly. Was it one of the church friends in their 70s? Was it one of the slightly younger but exercise-averse people? It turns out it was the businessman in his 40s who had collapsed while playing tennis. Of all the participants, he was the last one anyone would have expected to die.

This incident highlights the uncertainty of life.

Some evangelists and Christian speakers try to fearmonger their crowds, literally attempting to scare the hell out of them by milking, for all its worth, the idea of sudden death. Manipulation is never appropriate and should be rejected.

Having said that, none of us really knows what any given day will hold. Just this week, six road crew workers lost their lives when a cargo ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, plunging them to their deaths. As they left for work that day, none of them could have imagined what awaited them.  

I don’t want to get anywhere near the inappropriate tactics of some overzealous evangelists, but I do want to remind you about what the Bible says about the unfortunate human condition and what God has done to remedy our problem.

God loves us and created us to be in relationship with him. Unfortunately, our sin – either outward rebellion against God or indifference toward him – has separated us from him.

But the good news is that he has made a way to overcome the spiritual death resulting from our sin. Jesus – who is God, the second person of the Trinity – took on himself the penalty we deserve by his death and physical resurrection which we are celebrating this weekend. That forgiveness is available to anyone who recognizes their need, asks to have Jesus’ forgiveness count for them, and commits to making him their Lord. If someone refuses this option and continues in their sin, their choice to live apart from God becomes permanent once they leave this world.

Let me also point out that, beyond all his comforting teachings, Jesus had a lot to say about hell. By my count, nearly half his 40 parables can be considered parables of judgment, where some people or groups are ushered into God’s kingdom and others are relegated to eternal separation from him. Rather than avoid the topic of hell, Jesus seems to go out of his way to bring it up, often injecting it into conversations on completely different topics.

In today’s world, it’s popular to focus on the “nice” parts of Jesus’ teaching about loving our neighbor and not judging others. However, we ignore his complete message at our own peril. What better time than Easter weekend to bring up the reality of Jesus’ provision to rescue us from eternal separation from God? So, I ask you, where do you stand in relation to Jesus, God’s only provision for our sin?