ivisible fires, hidden rage

I spent the summer before Lisa and I were married working for as a mountaineer for a Christian college's experiential education program.  Our base camp was in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks, a magical collection of 46 peaks each over 4,000. It was my job to teach kids how to trust community and be ok with expressing fear while experiencing the  joy of climbing in a region that would take your breath away.


We led 10-14 day expeditions. These trips were long enough to necessitate having the base camp leave cache's of food as it was impossible for us to carry all that we needed for that distance. We were "out there" and away from it all.  Being hours away from any advanced life support (fire/police) all of the leaders were trained as Wilderness Advanced First Aid Responders (W.A.F.A.) so that we could deal with the inevitable medical emergencies that arose.We operated in minimal impact/leave no trace and were hyper sensitive to preserving the wilderness experience for others.

The Adirondack National Park consists of over 1 million acres of glory, most of it pine forest. This region is very susceptible  to fores fires for two reasons. First, pine burns fast and hot. Second, the ground beneath pine forests are filled with hollow tunnels.

Hidden fires spread underground through these. A person may have thought they had extinguished  their camp fire but even warm embers can cause roots in these hollows to smolder long after the flames seem to be gone, only to erupt later and run under ground some distance from the source.

Many hearts burn with this slow fire. People claim to be "over it"  or "past it". They have hiked up their boots and moved on. Kept a stiff upper lip...and the smoldering fire lies underneath the surface only to rise somewhere else, burning them and others.

God calls us to put the fires out completely;

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, 

hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.   

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, 

so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,   

now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 

1 pet 2:1-3

This is a bold act. It requires the ability to admit you have been hurt. This exposes or frailty, our humanness, our vulnerability. It is risky. It is hard work. 

But if we don't, the slightest thing will cause a blaze to erupt killing us and others around us in hateful, violent speech and action. 

Be bold. Look at the hurt, resentment and pain. Give this over to God.