“I have a baptism to undergo, and how I wish the flames were already kindled.” Jesus

“You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you become new if you had not first become ashes.”  Nietsche

“The trials of life sometimes serve to burn away those things  that threaten to destroy us.”

The horrific fires in Los Angeles serve as a sobering reminder of how fleeting and unpredictable this life is. How foolish it is to base one’s security on earthly things or place one’s trust in people or politicians. The cataclysmic, yes, apocalyptic devastation and destruction is a macrocosm of what is experienced individually by most, if not all people who have ever walked the earth.  That includes you and me. 

Each of us, if we are fortunate, will experience at least one event that will serve as an emotional, physical, psychological, and yes, spiritual conflagration that devastates and threatens to destroy us.  It is a trial by fire, sometimes literal but more often figurative.  It is that event or circumstance that causes life as we know it, meticulously planned and carefully constructed, to come crashing down.  It is some element that is introduced, often due to little or no fault of our own, that first kindles and then fans the flames of failure and futility and causes us to question ourselves, others, God, and life itself. 

There are many questions that we ask at such a time,  “Why is this happening?”, or “What have I done to deserve this?”, or “Who can I blame for my misfortune?”  These are questions that often have no answers and lead us to resentment or without hope. There is another question that is preferable and far exceeds these others; “What purpose will these flames serve?”  This is a question that is only asked after a time.   After the shock, grief, guilt, and anger have subsided, at least to an extent.  It is a question that leads us up and out of the valley of death and darkness.  It is a question that causes us to see the fire as purifying, as refining and redefining everything, everything, everything . . .  and results in us rising like a Phoenix from the ashes!

This trial by fire can be a gift of grace, though one may not recognize it at the time.

This trial by fire can be a transformative experience in which that which threatens to destroy us instead serves to reshape and redirect our path in life.

This trial by fire can lead us from destruction to deliverance, from death to life.

I have met many, and heard about more, who have suffered the most heart-wrenching tragedies in life; who have been broken, beaten down, and burned up, but as a result rose from them new people, with new purpose, and a new perspective.  Maybe you are one of those people.  Maybe you have your own story of what it is like to live, and die, and rise again, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, like the Christ stepping out of the grave.