Last night at band practice, our devotions were provided by Ian Jenkins. We’d like to share these with you today.
I know some of you are aware of the Marshall fire in Colorado. It started at approximately 10.00am on Thursday 30 December 2021, and by that evening had swept through over 6000 acres, destroying almost 1000 homes, a hotel which had just opened in September, and a shopping mall. Christine and I were visiting in Louisville, Colorado with 2 of our grandkids (our daughters had taken a drive up the mountains that day with the other 2), when a neighbour told us there was a compulsory evacuation warning for our area. Now I donโt tend to worry about things, but that day I did worry. Watching the scene on TV and listening to reports it was obvious the destruction that was happening so near to where we were, so yes, I was worried. The feeling of driving away from the house not knowing if it would be there the next day was frightening – have we lifted the kids favourite things, important papers, my p-bone etc etc. We stayed overnight at a hotel in Boulder and were so relieved the next morning that there had been a heavy snow fall, the wind had died down, and the fire was contained approximately 2 miles from home!
The white areas in the picture were homes, now just ashes. There was total destruction, families devastated, losing everything, their homes and all that was in them, their cars, their pets, some losing their home and their business! Although amazingly there is just 1 confirmed death.
But amongst that despair there was so much good shown and shared, the neighbouring communities taking strangers into their homes, restaurants opening to give away meals, my favorite bakery place donating 100โs of pizzas, bowls of soup, Crocs Shoes, who have a facility in the area, gifting about 30,000 Crocs – and the small local businesses who had suffered so much during Covid doing whatever they can to ease others pain, along with the Salvation Army, churches and other organisations.
It seems the fire was started by a spark from someone illegally burning some rubbish. That spark caused so much pain and horror.
But we have the opportunity to start a spark in someoneโs life – a spark for good, a spark that will lead them to know God, a spark that can kindle the fire of the Holy Spirit in those we come in contact with either individually, or as a band playing in here, as we march the streets or visit other places.
So, thinking I should have a Bible reference and – when I recall my last talk to the band about the waterfalls – what verse other than ๐๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ:๐ฎ
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ป๐ฆ.
I just thank God for the way he looks after each one of us, and pray that we take the opportunities offered to us!
Thank you for reading – and Iโve stopped worrying again!!
Ian