One.Small.Spark
As I rounded the corner on the freeway tonight heading home the smell of campfire was thick in the air. A few days ago a small fire started on top of the mountain that makes up the valley my town rests in. That small fire has quickly consumed over 35,000 acers of the mountain side, forced over 5,000 families out of their homes and shows no signs of stopping with 0% containment. With a thick blanket of orange and red smoke covering the valley, there was an erie silence across town tonight. A silence screaming for help. A silence begging for hope. Hope that this fire would stop and we could once again return to being the peaceful valley we’ve always been.
In the book of James in the Bible we see a verse littered with imagery a lot like what I rounded the corner to see tonight. James says our tongues can do a lot of damage much like a small spark can set fire to an entire forest. I’ve always read over this verse and agreed with it but I guess something sank in tonight. Something sank in as I saw an entire mountain side engulfed in flames. As I saw what kind of damage a small spark can actually do first hand.
A few years back I made the terrible decision to tell a white lie in the early stages of a relationship. And like all white lies it lead to more white lies. A simple little lie with pure intentions of avoiding pain and drama was the tiny spark. That relationship lasted for 2 years.
2 years of trust.
2 years of memories.
2 years of laughs.
2 years of late night conversations.
2 years of date nights.
2 years of building a relationship much like a mountain.
That tiny spark lay dormant for 2 years but it caught fire and destroyed the mountain we had built in a matter of moments. The hurt and the pain, the damage done, the tears and arguments all looked a lot like my town tonight.
I think we’ve all told a white lie before and sometimes we get away with it if were lucky. But I understand tonight now more than ever what James was speaking about. He was warning us about the power of sin. About the power of One.Small.Spark
-Billy
