It's cold outside…we need to build more fires!

The story is told of a man that was out scouting the western territories in the late 1800's. It was deep of winter, and unfortunately during his work one day, he got lost in the mountains. So he began walking and walking and walking. Finally, as providence would have it, he stumbled across a railroad line. Well, since he worked for the railroad, he knew exactly where he was and that if he followed the line down the mountain, he would come to a small settlement. So he walked and walked, to avoid freezing, and finally came to the small town. Upon entering the telegraph office, he knew he would find a warm fire. But the fire was out. Dismayed, he knocked on the office window, and the boy behind jerked up the window to see what he wanted. "Um, Sunny…" he said. "Why haven't you kept a fire built out here in the lobby?" The boy irritated by the intrusion replied, "I'm too busy sending telegrams to worry about building fires!" And he slammed the window shut. So the cold man knocked on the window again… "In that case, I'd like to send a telegram!" The boy gave him the paper and a pen and then slammed the window shut again. And so the man wrote, "To the Telegraph Manager at East Central station. Upon receiving this telegram, please fire the telegraph operator at Logan Pass Station* immediately. Signed, J.P. Morgan, President of the Railroad."

One minute later, the office door burst open, and the telegraph operator came out with his arms piled high with wood as he began furiously building a fire. As J.P. Morgan watched, he finally spoke up. "Eh Sunny, did you per chance already send that telegraph that I wrote?" Without skipping a beat, the boy replied, "Can't you see that I'm too busy building fires to send telegrams?"

We chuckle about the story now, but it has a powerful spiritual lesson. We might be enjoying our own little cozy corner, pretending to be busy sending telegrams…writing ministry e-mails, talking on the phone, and studying our Bibles (all good things of course), but if we aren't also out lighting fires and helping make other people warm, our actions (or lack there of) could someday result in our missing out big time…not just on a job, but on eternity.

Matt 7:19-21 goes like this:

"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

It's not our fruits (or the fires we build) that save us…but the fruit is the indication of where our heart is. Yes, we must be taking time in our own little corner to read our Bible, to pray, to make those important phone calls, and to write those important ministry e-mails…but if our lives are also not lived out practically in the world, building fires among the lost and hurting, and doing our faithful utmost to help those around us…we will someday be without a job and without a future…

So in God's strength, let's go build some more fires today! Jesus is coming soon, but most of the world is experiencing the dead of winter!  They are freezing to death and they don't even know it. We have been given the wood, we have the matches, and we have the offering Christ gave us in His Life that will bring down the fire from Heaven. So we must be at our task. And remember, it is better to build fires now, then to be in the fire later…

(There's my fire and brimstone speech for today!)

*This is a true story, but the actual station name is not known!