Hi there, my friends,

 

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!

 

I’m sure you have all experienced the negative effects of that statement this week. Fires burning far away are affecting our breathing here, just because of the way the wind is blowing. We are downwind of some other terrible disaster. And while it produces an inconvenience for us,  it is nothing compared to the trouble experienced by those much closer to the fire.

 

Some have been evacuated from their homes.

                               

Some have lost everything to the blaze’s hungry jaws.

 

It made me think about times when I am treated poorly by someone. I am hurt. I am put out. I am troubled. And it’s hard for me to think about the kind of pain that person must be going through for them to cause such pain to someone else.

 

Hurt people hurt people. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

 

When someone feels threatened, they can enter a fight of flight mode. And there are all kinds of ways that a person can feel threatened. Maybe it’s because they have been hurt their whole lives and they’ve come to expect that hurt is the only way that they will ever be treated. Maybe they have experienced great loss in the past and are terrified of going through that again. We don’t know what’s going on in another person’s heart and mind.

 

The fires that are burning within them are producing the smoke that is affecting us.

 

That’s why scripture says:

 

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13

 

If we are unwilling to forgive, then bitterness will grow up within us like a fire and the smoke from that fire will affect those around us…and the cycle will continue.

 

We need to show grace to that person.

 

Rain on those fires burning elsewhere in our country will bring relief to the air conditions near us. That’s why we pray for rain to fall.

 

God wants those people who hurt us to experience His love and healing.  We need to pray for relief for them, to pray for rain.

 

Maybe there is someone in your life who has hurt you. Let me encourage you to forgive them and to pray for them. Christ has forgiven us, so let’s forgive others.

 

This Sunday, we will continue in our Nehemiah series. I will be speaking on Nehemiah 2:11-18 and talking about how great leaders inspire people to action. I hope you can be there.

 

Have a great weekend, and we will see you on Sunday.

 

I love being your pastor.

 

Pastor Tim