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December
Advice
I Love You

November
38. Bald is beautiful
37. Fire
36 Sleep
35 Music

October 2006
34. Stupidity
33. Painting
32. mmm Pasties
31. Built to last
30. Phlegm

September 2006
29. Meetings
28. Crime thoughts
27. Colours
26. Unwanted guests

August 2006
25. Comparison
24. Waterproof Mascara
23. Tasty MSG
22. Helplessness

July 2006
21. Attraction
20. Hair
19. Hero
18. Laughter
17. Factoids

June 2006
16. Voiceless
15. Bruises (ouch)
14. Sunburn
13. Mistakes

May 2006
12. Arms
11. Willow Tree
10. Eurovision
9. Chicken
8. Addictions

April 2006
7. Age
6. Celebrities
5. Language

March 2006
4. Commonwealth Games
3. Decisions
2. Drizzle
1. Trelawney

Fire

I think that I might be a pyromaniac. You see I really like fire. Not in an arsonistic-setting houses-and-people-on-fire kind of way, but in a captivating, mesmerising, beautiful kind of way (I meant the fire being beautiful and captivating, not me!). I was at a Taize service in Bradford Cathedral last week, where everyone was given a candle upon entry. Near the end of the service a light was passed around until the whole congregation were sat crossed legged on the floor holding a lit candle. We were sat cross-legged to start with – it wasn’t an effect of the flame. Imagine that, every time you held a burning candle you automatically sat on the floor! It would be mightily difficult for those who have to process with a candle – I mean you’d look really silly bum shuffling down the isle at an important service!  

Anyway, back to reality. As I sat holding this candle I found that I couldn’t take my eyes off the flame. In the background was the gentle chanting / singing that goes with the Taize style worship, and there were people all around me, but at that very moment it was if I was alone with God. Why did the presence of a single flame mean God was any closer to me than before? 

Let’s go back to how fire is fun… I may not have set a building on fire, but if you go to my bedroom that I grew up in and pull back the little pinky coloured rug, you will see a circle of melted carpet! I used to have a metal bin, which would fit into the melted patch perfectly. You see, I was experimenting with candles and wax patterns and just how flammable things in my room were, when something caught fire rather quickly. I know that I am not stupid, but I momentarily forgot that metal conducts heat and so threw the burning thing (can’t remember what it was, and the pile of ash remains give us no clue either!) into my metal bin. That was until there was a strange sizzling sound and smoke coming from underneath the bin, as everything in it caught fire along with the carpet beneath! Trying to pick the bin up burnt my hand (again with the conductive properties of metal!) and so if you look carefully a second burnt patch can also be seen on the carpet (which at the time was not that old). Strangely, after the fire was out and the smell had dissipated, my parents weren’t convinced by my new rug positioning right by the door! Boy, did I get into trouble. But moments before the burning bin of 1990-something, I was enjoying messing around with fire. So really it’s no surprise that a friend of mine highly enjoyed burning my front garden with a blow torch! He happily sat there for a good couple of hours slowly burning away my weeds (and anything else in his path!). It was fun and apparently very good at relieving stress, although I suggest a hot bath and some chocolate is far safer! So what makes fire fun? Is it the risk of everything going up in flames?  

Someone recently shared that their image of God was that of destruction. This startled me as it is so far from the loving Father image that I often turn to. When asked to say the first word that springs to mind when God is mentioned, I reckon we would all have very different ideas. Some would be nearer the ‘destructive’ adjective whereas other would be closer to the ‘father’ image. Where is your image of God? How would you describe the indescribable?  

It seems to me that just as I have different experiences of fire – at times I am astonished by it’s beauty and the calming effect a single flame can have. At other times I see how powerful fire can be, destroying whole forests, houses, lives, and it scares me. So then does God meet us in different ways throughout our lives – sometimes being in the big, the noisy, the dramatic. And then He can also be, as with Elijah, in the gentle whisper, in the quiet and the stillness. Is that not part of the mystery of God, that He is the King of Kings, but also a servant, that He is the alpha & omega (the beginning & the end) but He is also interested in the small, meaningless details of my life – a teeny-tiny point in history.  

As we are silenced and captivated by the beauty of fire we mustn’t forget the power within that flame, then too as we come to meet with God who is our friend and companion, we must remember what great power and authority He holds – He is not just a cuddly teddy to comfort us through life, He is….., well He is so much more and it would take me all week to describe Him to you! In fact to give you some idea as to how much more God is check out:

http://www.4-14.org.uk/index.php/archives/54-thats-my-king-s-m-lockeridge

 Now, that’s my King! 

Oh and a final thought….”matches, matches, never touch. They can hurt you very much!”