Dawn of a Conflagration

CONFLAGRATION: A raging, destructive fire. Often used to describe a fire burning under extreme fire weather. The term is also used when a wildland fire burns into a wildland/urban interface, destroying many structures.

Dawn of a conflagration ... it's the theme for the Light of the World youth group, but after the disappointing news of the 2008 Presidential election and my pregnancy center training this morning, it just seemed fitting that maybe I am in the dawn of a raging, destructive, all consuming fire.

The youth group uses the saying as an analogy to the love that we should have for God - a love that burns anything in its way - holding nothing back from God's love and the power that love can have in our lives. And like any wild fire that burns the land, it is always from the death of the land that comes new life - bigger and better trees, brighter flowers, more foliage. But I'm a little stuck at the moment on the negative connotations of a fire...the destruction, the death, the evil, the power, the control of the fire and the fear of onlookers.

Today during training we were talking about STDs and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) and the epidemic that runs silently along side teens. An epidemic or FIRE that is pure evil that came from a misuse of something purely good. I feel as though I am working at the pregnancy center to put out a fire that continues to burn...Not to mention the state of the economy, the issue of life, and the tremendous disappointment and heartfelt concern many citizens felt when John McCain was not slated as President-Elect.

These fires are only the external fires that I am facing. Tonight at ENCOUNTER I got some reminder that though we might have a new president come 2009 we are still under the Kingdom of God and that alone should give me HOPE! We are a people of hope - regardless of these conflagrations, Christ has already proven that GOOD will prevail in the end. The fire that burns will only bring about the new and better life in all of us. It is this hope that I will take into my weekend. We can never underestimate the power of the small work that we are doing.

Father John Bullock would agree with me:
"If we really want something, we find a way… period. It’s very easy to complain about the evils in society, but that does little good. While prayer is the most important means to combat evil, it is also true that God wants us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Other groups are willing to make great sacrifices to see their religious, social and political programs become a reality. We must be willing to do the same. As he did with the apostles, Christ also sends us out to evangelize the world. As he told them, he tells us, “Take courage; I have conquered the world” (John 16:33)."

My attitude of being lazy and hopeless is doing even LESS to put out these fires out. Here's to putting on my firefighting gear and getting in the middle of the heat. And the GOOD news is when the fire is over, the new life begins!