The next time the kids met with Dave there was no campfire again. The kids thought that Dave was going to have them go in the woods again and listen to the sounds of nature like they did last time, but Dave had a different idea. He told the kids that he was going to let them build the fire. He showed them the tinder (old newspapers), the kindling (small pieces of wood), and the bigger pieces of wood. He told them to wad up the newspaper and put it on the bottom, then break up the kindling and put that on top of the newspapers. After the kindling was burning, the big pieces of wood could be carefully placed on the fire.
It seemed like it would be simple enough, so the kids followed Dave’s instructions and soon they had the newspapers and the kindling burning. It was time to carefully put the bigger pieces of wood onto their fire, but now there was a problem! The big pieces of wood did not catch on fire, and soon the kindling was burned up and the fire was out! Dave gave the kids more newspapers and more kindling and they tried again. Once again, their fire went out! The big pieces of wood did not catch fire!
The kids were frustrated, but Dave told them that he could explain the problem that they were having; he told them that the big pieces of wood were wet, that was why they did not start burning! Dave gave the kids more newspapers, kindling, and dry wood and soon they had the campfire burning!
The kids wanted to know why Dave had let them try to light a campfire with wet wood, and Dave told them that he was going to tell them a story about wet firewood.
Once Dave was with a group of high school students who were on a mission’s trip serving people who were underprivileged and needed help and also needed to hear about Jesus. During the day they spent their time cutting firewood so that the people would be warm next winter, painting a house, and playing with the children who lived in the area. At night they went to their campfire, had a good meal, and relaxed around their campfire.
One of the teenage boys in the group was named Philip, and he loved to build the campfire each night. Usually, he got the fire going quickly and they were very nice campfires. One night it was different; it was pouring rain! No one wanted to sit around a campfire in the rain, and they were not going to cook any food on the campfire, so there was no reason to build the campfire! Philip did not see things that way, he always started a campfire in the evening, so he went outside to start the campfire, even though there was no reason to have a campfire that evening!
The kindling was wet, and the wood was wet, so the fire did not want to start. Philip did not give up; he stayed out there for over a half hour trying to start that campfire! Eventually Philip was successful, and the campfire started to burn. Philip carefully added wood, one piece at a time, until the fire was burning brightly in the rainstorm. By this time Philip was soaking wet, and he came inside to get dry clothes, and to warm up!
The campfire was burning great, but no one went out to sit by the fire because it was raining! The group sat inside their food tent, playing games. Outside, the campfire burning brightly all by itself!
Dave told the kids that we can learn from this story a little more about living for God. When a person first believes in Jesus and asks Him to come into their life and forgive their sins, there is a lot of excitement in their life! The feeling of being forgiven and having Jesus live inside them is an awesome feeling. That person wants to read the Bible and learn more about Jesus, they want to tell others about Jesus, and they want to be with other believers! They wish this feeling could go on forever, but that is not what happens. At the end of this life on earth, when we get to heaven, then the excitement and the awesome feelings will last forever, but here on this earth life gets hard, and the excitement can start to fade away. The person wonders what went wrong. They used to feel so great; they felt like they were ‘on fire’ for Jesus. Now they feel like their wood is wet, and the fire has almost gone out!
These feelings are normal, every believer goes through times when the problems of life are so intense that it feels like they have lost their ‘fire’ for Jesus and their wood is all wet. Other people look at them and laugh and say things like, “I knew it would not last, they were so happy that they found Jesus, where is Jesus now that things are not going so good?” The believer gets discouraged and wonders if Jesus has given up on them.
This discouraged believer might open their Bible and read in John 16:33 where Jesus says:
In this world you will have trouble.
The discouraged believer sighs, shakes their head, and agrees. Yes, now their life is full of trouble! They need to rest of John 16:33! Jesus then says:
But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Yes, that is right! No matter how bad things seem to be now, Jesus says that He has overcome this world. He is in control, and He is using everything that happens to us in this life to prepare us for heaven! Nothing that happens to us can separate us from Jesus or from His love!
In the Bible in Romans 8:35-39 it says:
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Your fire for Jesus is not out, your wood might be a little wet, but these promises from the Bible will dry it out! Jesus is hanging onto every believer, and He will never let go! When hard times come, others may not be able to see your fire for Jesus, and maybe you cannot even see it or feel it, but it is still there burning deep in your heart. It will not go out because Jesus is the one who keeps it going!
Remember the campfire that Philip built in the rain. No one went out to enjoy the fire, but the fire kept burning in the rain, even though no one was there to see it and enjoy it. The fire for Jesus in the heart of every believer will also keep burning brightly in the heart of a true believer, even if no one else can see it because of the ‘rain’ (problems of this life).
Be encouraged! Jesus will not let the fire in your heart go out! He loves you, and nothing can change that!