OnFire Encouragement Letter

Hi Folks:

Another week has passed. The exhibition is on this week in Shelburne. I rode one of the fire trucks in the parade. After an hour of the siren going, we had made all the jokes we could about the noise, and I was glad to get off. I think I have my hearing back (What's that you say??!)

Not much to tell this week. Attendance at church this week was about the lowest of the summer. I'm always glad when things get back to normal in the Fall. I don't want to wish away summer, but its hard to keep in touch with people with all the comings and goings.

I think I have a case of the summer blah's, if there is such a thing. When I'm up I'm up, and when I'm not, I'm not. Normally I run along at a pretty even keel, but find I have to push myself a little to get motivated, and I think I've been a little irritable. I've been feeling a little "peopled out," too.

On the plus side, this week I'm going to the Willow Creek Leadership Summit at a satellite site in Halifax. These are always really well done and inspirational. We're going to have an outdoor service on the 19^th, and a baptism on the 26^th. These are exciting to be part of. Tonight we had a meeting to plan the Sunday school kick-off. That looks like it will be a lot of fun also.

We continue with our second installment on Peter.

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Luke 4:38-39 "Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother_in_law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them."

"There's nothing we can do."

The mechanic spoke these fateful words to me after I mixed my chainsaw gas wrong and the engine seized. It needed a new piston, but at $160 for the piston alone, plus labour and other associated costs, the total was almost as much as a new saw. I took it home and mourned its passing.

Not long after, I moved to Shelburne. Here I found a man in my church, one of my deacons, who "recycles the 2-cycle." I took him my saw and I was there when he opened it up. What a mess! The piston was ruined, but the cylinder wall was OK. He told me he could fix it. (Check the website, www.onfireletter.com for a picture of the piston)

"Tell you what," he said. "You pay for the parts, and I'll do the work for free." It took a little effort, and there was more wrong than just the piston. But eventually he fired it up and I took it home. It still works great. I drop in from time to time to see what he is working on. It might be a four-wheeler, roto-tiller, boat motor, or scooter. Our lawn mower and line trimmer came from him.

What did the medical people say about Peter's mother-in-law? Her body was burning up and none of the traditional remedies worked. Unless something changed, she would die. "There is nothing we can do."

It is not hard to identify with Peter's family. How many times and in how many situations do we think there is nothing we can do? Whether its health, family, work, finances, or some other difficult situation, we often bump up against this common frustration. "There is nothing we can do."

Some people take this at face value and give up in resignation. Not Peter and his family. When others thought there was no hope, they turned to Jesus. Apparently, they had seen enough to think that he was able. At this point, he performed one of his first recorded miracles and the woman was raised from her deadly fever.

Jesus is in the business of making "impossible" things happen. In our own conventional wisdom we are tempted to think, "There is nothing we can do." I come across people all the time who even tell me, "I've tried praying and nothing happened." I think we have to be careful not to treat prayer like flipping the light switch - if nothing happens immediately it must be broken.

To be honest, I don't know why not all of our prayers are answered. But I have seen enough "impossible" things happen to know that Jesus is more than able.

I love their faith: "...so they asked Jesus to help her." Anyone can have faith when the outcome seems likely. Our challenge is to believe even when it appears impossible.

Hope this helps. Be OnFire

Troy

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfire@eastlink.ca . This letter published August 7, 2007.