November 8 – “On Fire”

Today was one of those "Woo-Hoo, we did it, but …" kind of days.  After tearing out the wood floors yesterday, I was prepared to do some serious scraping of the tar left on the floor so we could be ready for the cleaning crew coming back tomorrow.  Nathan was there waiting for us when we arrived.  He was trying to cut some of the floors at Mom's house, but the saw blade was in pretty poor shape, so he was not making much progress.  We talked about going to get some replacements, but Chris had to go clean the church.  So we decided to attack our house – me on the scraper and Nathan in the attic pulling out air conditioning ducts.  He definitely made better progress than I did.  He eventually finished his task.  And from the sounds I heard coming from above, he must have been doing some really difficult work.  Grunts and groans and cries of "Ouch!"  After about the fifth "ouch" I let him know the rule Chris and I created.  You are only allowed one or two uncontested "ouch" cries.  Then you have to answer for them or take a break.  The "ouches" pretty much stopped.  The grunts continued in earnest.   I got a call from Hutch while Chris was still gone.  He was giving me an update on things at the building site (Seaside Christian Academy).  Our lumber that had been held hostage was apparently set free by a simple meeting between job foremen.  But the big news – and I can't believe I forgot to mention this yesterday – was the fire.    Yesterday when I was at my dirtiest and rapidly approaching exhaustion, I heard my phone make that weird noise that meant I had a text message.  Now that was exciting to me.  Not too many people I know would text me, so I hurried over to the phone.  I slid the top open and punched the "read it" key.  And there it was.  A message from Nathan, who was, by the way, on duty at the fire station in Sea Isle.  The message was a short one … "Seaside on fire."  What?  On fire?  That's our church building.  The one that survived Hurricane Ike with minimal damage so it could be used by God in the aftermath.  The one with a school meeting in it.  What time is it, anyway?  What books I have left are there.  Then came the second text: "It's OK."  That's all.  Just, "It's OK."  Now I couldn't decide which was worse, my mental picture of the building in flames or my image of what could have happened to cause the fire call in the first place.  Chris was ready to go right then.  Kel suggested we call Nathan to get some more details.    To somewhat shorten the story, I did call.  Nathan said they had indeed received a call that Seaside was on fire.  As they suited up, they were even talking about how it was always exciting to head out.  One guy even said, "I kind of hope it's a real fire to fight, but, Dude, that's your Dad's church!"  Firemen love the rush.    Then they got the call to stand down because the Jamaica Beach Volunteer department had it under control.  Nathan called the Captain at Jamaica Beach, and he said, "We have it covered, Man.  We're taking care of everything.  I think the worst the church may have to do is replace a piling and fire a welder."  The fire wasn't in the building at all, but on one of the pilings where workers were installing steel braces for the new school structure.   I have been pondering those text messages for two days now, and when Hutch called, it brought some things into the light.  "Seaside on fire."  You know, really, the church is the people.  Seaside is people.  Is Seaside on fire … for God?  And if we're talking about being spiritually fired up, then is "It's OK" that great a message after all?  In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist says about Jesus, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." In Luke 12:49, Jesus points out, "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"   Father, I don't want to be just "OK."  Help me – help Seaside – to really be "on fire" for you.  Amen.