Devotion 1.3.17

Welcome to the New Year.  We hope the holidays, both Christmas and New Year's, were a time you enjoyed with family and those you love.

Dumpster fire.  I've heard the word quite a bit recently, especially in the sport's world.  The (insert the situation here) is a real dumpster fire.  Given the context and situations, it usually infers that it is a disaster in its impact that took a life all its own.  For example, "Tech's defense was a real dumpster fire in this game as it had no control of the game, giving Tech's offense no chance to stay in a game in which it totaled 675 yards and seven touchdowns to still lose by...." 

I'm not sure how we got to "dumpster fire" because it is used like that is a common occurrence we should all be familiar with.  I'm familiar with grass fire, because I've seen them, and they take a life all their own.  I had a friend who got the bright idea to burn his trash before we left his ranch.  As he filled the steel barrel with the trash, he doused it with gas.  The liquid went to the bottom and the fumes stayed around the various pieces of trash.  As he tossed the match in, the fumes served as a propellant and sent the trash, ignited by the match and fumes, skyward.  Suddenly, there were five men on his ranch scrambling to limit the spread of the fire from ground zero to his entire ranch with the grasses ripe to burn, dormant from winter.

However, I've had a friend who informed me last week that the dumpster in his neighborhood caught fire one night, started probably by a neighbor who cleaned out a fire place and an ember or two were not out entirely.  Upon hearing about the outcome, I've since accepted the use of "dumpster fire" for situations that seem to have no control over them (the plastic lids melted by the heat of the fire) as he noted the fire department got there and just limited the spread of the fire by hosing down the perimeter.

Christ came into this world in a potential dumpster fire.  Mother pregnant out of wedlock.  Engaged husband decides to leave her rather than follow through with charges and potential stoning. God intervenes through his angel.  While traveling with a  very pregnant Mary for a census in Bethlehem, she delivers while they cannot find a hotel room.  Now, as we celebrate events after the birth of Christ, wise men seek him which enables Herod to begin his search and destroy mission, as God again intervenes.

Our savior, our king, came into the world in a less than royal environment.  God intervened to limit this potential "dumpster fire."  This is true for our lives as well.  Whether or not we care to admit it, we sometimes are one step away (or one foot already in) a potential dumpster fire, and yet our God intervenes.  He delivers us from our own calamity by giving his Son as a free gift.  As we begin this new year, we give thanks for our savior and the salvation he gives us in our lives, our own personal dumpster fires.

Hope Men's Ministry