Fire Line

My husband lost his job last week. We are one week into our Exodus. I picture the three of us in Hebrew garb standing at the foot of a vast desert, our mouths agape.  For our tiny tribe of three, the Clan of Raegan, son of Ray Spitler, life has sort of stopped. The questions have begun, "How are we going to hike through that? Well these flip-flops won't last, did anyone pack a Clif Bar? And oh yeah, water...kind of a big deal. Especially out here. Never knew it was a big deal until now, until we like, didn't have it."

When you feel naked and vulnerable you take note of what you still have that cannot be ripped from you. We have Christ. I've said that my entire newborn life, "Oh yes, I have Jesus" practically in a sing-songy way. Easy to sing that tune from the feasting table. But let's not forget the slumber that comes after a feast, the one that overtakes like a drug, putting you into a spiritual coma that only a crisis can wake up. This slumber never happens intentionally, slowly though, eyes sink to half mast, weighed down by the fattened calf we had taken for granted. Our ears deadened to the Holy Spirit, relegating Him to merely an afterthought. *shiver* What a grave mistake.

We don't need a cloud by day or a fire by night, we have the fire, burning within us, the Presence of Jesus. The Light we had not allowed to burn bright due to complacency, even apathy. Here's the deal, I had no desire to limit God. In fact I want Him to blow the doors off of human reason. I've asked for that. Something has to break for Him to break forth in all glory. We are glow sticks. They don't glow until broken. It hurts, but still there is a glimmer of something. I don't dare call it joy. Or will I? It's an expectancy of something that I can't explain. You may read this and say, "You are an idiot." And you would be right. It does not make sense. Call me naive, foolishly hopeful because after all its early in the game. You could say, "yeah let's see what she says three months from now, a year from now." And I would want you to. Challenge me. For one thing I want to know of the eternal stuff I am re-made. Ask me in a month, "Still hopeful? Still have that glimmer of joy Pollyanna?"

There was a song we sang in church, something about giving Him our everything for He gave us His everything. And I thought about what my "everything" looks like right now. Made me laugh. Right now all I see in me is frailty. A kids garage sale of weak willed thoughts rooted in nothing. I'm sure you remember, kids garage sales are basically a Crap-for-Crap bartering ritual. In the dead heat of summer when your all bored to tears and no one will drop you off at the pool you have a garage sale. So you take your crap and trade it for even worse crap and actually believe you came out a winner. I came home with a limbless doll once, with hair mysteriously burned into melted plastic stubble. The limbs had apparently been eaten by their family dog, and somehow I thought this horror show was worth a quarter. It's this stuff we hold so dear, we think it carries weight, the useless bumper sticker mantras we all love to say but are nothing more than chaff in the wind. Be careful what you pray for. I prayed for wisdom, I prayed for the Spitlers to be total sell-outs to Jesus Christ. God did not take my husband's job away, but now and then God gives the world an inch to return to us the mile when we come through the refining fire. Suffering then resurrection. Death, then life. When the fire comes, when the Light turns on, all things hidden will be revealed for what they are. I have some bumper stickers that need to be tossed, or better yet burned.

We watched a documentary yesterday about Yellowstone Park. Natural fires occur periodically, but when one gets a bit out of hand firefighters step in. They create a Fire Line, which means they start a ring of fire around the moving forest fire, so where the vegetation is already burned the moving forest fire stops.  Fire meets fire and the destruction stops. We are sealed unto the day of redemption by a Seal given to us by the Holy Spirit. From the day of the Flaming tongues, fire has burned within us. From the day we said "Yes" to Jesus, Death lost its sting, and Eternity like a burning ember glows and grows in our inner man as the breath of God fans the flame. Like the lost limbless dolls without hope, broken treasures ravaged by sin we were left for dead. Then Jesus Christ showed up.

We are redeemed by the most precious treasure ever known to man. Once and for all our Rescuer stopped the haggling over Cost, and bound the forked tongue that once beguiled us. Jesus Christ knew from whence we came and yet He came, He came just the same. Does it not baffle you?

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Colossians 2:13-17 

.....the reality, however, is found in Christ. 

Hang on everyone, the clouded veil will be removed and the glory of Jesus Christ will soon be fully known. Will we care when all else is burned away? When God sees us, it is fire meeting fire, we are His children, and so preserved we persevere unto the end. God will make a way.

"Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God."
Colossians 3:1