I looked out the window as we wound our way up the mountain at Sequoia National Park in California. So many dead or dying trees. I was saddened by the drought and obvious signs of past destructive forest fires that had certainly left their mark on the landscape.

Before we started hiking, we stopped at the Giant Forest Museum to get familiar with the terrain. I learned that the grandaddy of all the Sequoias, The General Sherman, holds the the title of not only being the largest living tree in the world but also the largest living organism, by volume, on our planet. To put it in perspective, here’s some pertinent facts on General Sherman:

• Age: 2,100 years old, which means it was on earth when Jesus was living!
• Weight:  7 million pounds.
• Height: 275 feet tall.
• Width: 100 feet wide at its trunk.

I then stopped by a display explaining the Life Cycle of a Sequoia tree and was amazed to find the positive role fire plays in the life of these giants.

Fire Cycle=Life Cycle

Fire affects sequoias at every stage of life, and periodic fires actually serve to produce a healthy grove with trees at every stage of life (seedling, sapling, spire-top, mature, and monarch). I learned that it is only the hottest of forest fires that can kill a Sequoia because they are so mammoth that many of them survive the fire and continue growing to their life expectancy. Besides that, fire has a “friendly effect” on the trees, as this photo I took points out.

Refiner’s Fire

As we hiked along the trail, I thought about a phrase I’ve read in the Bible, refiner’s fire. In light of what I had just learned about the trees, I now better understood verses, like Malachi 3:2-3

“For who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

Hidden Potential of Life

While what I saw was a tinder-dry landscape desperately in need of rain, God saw something else: the hidden potential of life. As we learned in the sign above, it takes heat to open the cones of sequoias so that they can then release their seeds and life can spring forth.

And the same thing is true for us.

1. Sometimes God must apply fire to our lives to get our attention and open us up to what he is trying to do.
2. Our lives can get cluttered with things that may be taking the place of what we really should be doing. In that case, God may need to burn off the insects and fungus, the chaff, in our lives. This process is not usually pleasant, but if we persevere and cooperate with Him, we will emerge from the refining fire a far healthier person.
3. The seeds God wants to plant in our lives will then have a rich soil in which to take root and grow. In the long term, we can burst open with new life, new ministry, new healing.
4. And just like with the Sequoias, once we have been through the refiner’s fire, that area will be much less flammable, giving the “young plants” of God’s work a good start.

It could be that the tough time you’re going through right now is not so much an attack from the enemy as it is a refining fire from the Lord. Ask God in your prayer time if there is something in you that needs to be burned off so that He can use you even more so than He is now. And if the Holy Spirit reveals something to you, cooperate with Him in removing it from your life.

Like the Sequoias, you’ll emerge from the fire stronger for it and ready to disperse new seeds of life.

Pray on!

Ever since the beginning of history, God has made provision to fellowship with man. He has promised that even if we have sinned, He has made a way for us to fellowship with Him. To find out how God has covered our sin, please click on the link!

Update on June 29, 2010

Jesse had his outpatient appointment yesterday at the Riley Clinic, and we received more good news. They took off all the wraps and the burns are healed and the new skin is in! Now he just has to wear elastic wraps to support and protect the new skin. He has also been cleared to leave for Orlando and start school on his original date of July 15. They are setting up an appointment for him in Orlando in about 6 weeks with a burn clinic there. We are all so thankful. Praise God for this wonderful news and for all your prayers for him!

After the clinic visit, we went back up to the burn ward so that he could visit with his nurses who took care of him and give them the good news. That was a happy, emotional time for us. During the treatments there, the treatment that was the hardest was the debriding baths to clean off the burned skin. That was one of the things you all prayed about. During one of these sessions last week,  I was praying for some words of hope to give him to endure them when I looked up at the walls. On the walls were the handprints and names of all the children before him who had been through this same procedure. That day I said to him, “Jesse, look up at the names and the handprints. Look at how tiny some of these little hands are. They survived this, and you can too.” He looked up at them and whispered, “God bless every one of them.”

Well, yesterday Jesse added his handprint to the wall. I’ll let these pictures tell the story themselves.

Update on June 23, 2010

JESSE IS HOME!! Jesse had a miraculous turnaround last night, was walking today and was released from the hospital to outpatient care. We are all so happy to have him back. Thanks to all for your prayers. You have all played a major part in his quick healing. He is stunned by all the people around the country/world who were praying for him. I will have him leave an update once he gets a little time to recuperate. Praise God!

Update on June 22, 2010

Jesse’s burns are healing. He is wrapped in a special wrap, which slowly releases silver on his burns. Silver is a natural antibiotic. These wraps can be left on for a week at a time, so he does not have to do the daily painful washes. He is working on walking again. New “skin buds” are forming on his legs and the nerves are all close to the surface, making walking very painful. As soon as he can walk, he will be allowed to go home.

Thanks for all your prayers! Jesse is so grateful to everyone.

Jane’s 18-year-old son Jesse was burned in a fire on Wednesday evening. He has second and third degree burns on 15% of his body–both legs below the knees, his left arm and a small spot on his back.

Please pray against any infection, that swelling will go down, that he won’t need skin graft surgery and for strength during daily bandage changes. Right now he is unable to walk do the swelling and pain. Thank you so much!

“We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment” (Psalm 66:12).