[250 words]
In January 2005, wildfire swept through the nearby town of Cross Plains, Texas. A friend of mine from that town told me that Cross Plains looked like a war zone. Over half of the town burned to the ground. On that same day, wildfires swept throughout the state due to a combination of dry weather and high winds. Homes and businesses were lost. People were injured. Some died. That was a horrible day for Texas. It reminds me of a question asked by Joel to his people: “Has anything like this happened before?” (Joel 1:2b).
As I prayed for these families, it occurred to me that this could have been my hometown.
The Old Testament book of Joel, chapter one, describes a time of natural disaster. Every bit of food was completely and totally destroyed. One of the agents of this destruction was wildfire (Joel 1:19-20). But in the midst of that destruction, God made a promise: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32). God’s people rededicated their hearts to the Lord … and because of this the Lord fulfilled his promise and pardoned them for their previous lack of faith (Joel 3).
Should disaster burn through your neighborhood, can you truly say: “I’m ready to meet this challenge head-on because I’ve got God by my side!” And should fire catch you asleep tonight can you confidently say, “if I die tonight, I know that I have a home in heaven?”
Larry Fitzgerald