Learn Not to Burn

When our son Colt was in the Fire Academy preparing to be a Phoenix Fireman, there was a day of instruction that changed his life and may someday save his life.

On that day, the instructors introduced them to several of the fire chiefs who had served as firemen for many years. They had earned their stripes and had a wealth of knowledge to share with them. But on that particular day, they chose to share sobering memories that they hoped would prevent these young men and women from repeating a tragedy. They were there to tell them about the firemen who had been killed in the line of duty – firemen who had gone in to fight a fire, possibly to save a life, but in the end, did not come out themselves.  As you can imagine, this was a painful thing to do especially because these fire chiefs were talking about their friends and fellow firefighters. And then to give these rookies another huge dose of reality, they had several fire captains come in and show them their charred helmets, singed uniforms, healed wounds and seared scars as testaments to the fact that they went in and by God’s grace, they made it out, but not without damage that haunts them every day of their lives. As much as possible, they wanted the new recruits to realize what could happen to them, what was at stake and that fire was nothing to underestimate. Everything they were learning, even the most mundane protocol, was to keep them from ending up dead or maimed. They needed to know that their greatest chance for coming out alive or unscathed was to pay attention, obey their instructions and make doing the right thing second nature. In the same way, God asks us to pay attention to His Word and the Holy Spirit, to obey His instructions and to make doing the right thing second nature in order to keep us from self destructing. Unlike the fire academy, it’s too bad we can’t display the wages of sin and disobedience the same way they showed their scars and wounds. If we could see the ravages of sin like these novice firemen saw what fire could do to them, we might be more inclined to stay within the boundaries of God’s love and avoid many of the flames that lick at our heels. It’s a lesson that we don’t want to learn the hard way!

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:17-18 (NIV)

Here’s to a ton of wisdom and an ounce of prevention, Love, Darcy