Staying Warm and Drying Out

The final chapter of the Life on the Street series…

By 7 PM, I arrived at the church. I had no keys so I headed to the back of the property and began making my home for the night. I laid several branches down to rest upon while I made the fire since there was still a foot of snow on the ground. I soon had a fire going but had trouble keeping it burning (I started too small) and so I fought with it for an hour or two. I had one of the deacons concerned to the point where he texted me to say that there were hay bales near the church that I could use. I dragged one back to where I was (about a hundred and twenty yards or so) and then broke it up to make a makeshift bed. Once again I stoked the little fire and thought I would be ok. I put on a pair of my dry socks – when I left the mission that morning I only put on two pairs of socks and held back a pair just in case ( I am a pretty quick learner sometimes). So I was trying to dry things out and get to sleep and keep the fire going to stay warm. I was tucked under half a bale of hay while my boots were drying over the coals. I dozed. Suddenly – a bright light and a poof and I was awake – OH NO…The fire liked the flavor of my boots because it was suddenly licking major flames all around them – a foot and a half high!

What to do – without thinking I reached into the fire and grabbed my boots and tossed them aside – the smell of burning leather and rubber was awesome! They were not completely ruined but now I was awake again! And cold… Soon the fire died down and returned to its passive state and I was freezing and frustrated. A couple of options were before me: One: get up and call my wife and go home to a warm house, shower, food and a bed. Two: Get with it and make the biggest fire you can think of and drag that other bale of hay back here. It's 11:30 PM. I have to preach tomorrow. Dog gone it – this is crazy…

I marched back to where I left the other bale and then to the church dumpster – second time today that I went dumpster diving – I found another newspaper and a couple of little lightweight cardboard boxes that should burn ok. I stuffed the papers in the boxes and the boxes in my jacket and trudged back to the coals with my bale of hay. I then built a small semi-circular shelter with the pieces of the bale and laid a couple of branches over the top. I was shivering because I was so cold at this point and my feet were terribly sore and cold. I found several large logs and made a square "Lincoln log" type structure. I threw every last bit of wadded up paper and the little boxes in the middle of the log structure and stacked twigs over the paper. I then created a TeePee like structure of little branches that were about two to three feet long. If this did not create some real lasting fire then I was done.

I lit it with a couple of the matches I had left and within fifteen minutes had a four foot high roaring fire within a couple of feet of my little hay bale shelter. I then took off my coat and laid it over the top of the structure and crawled underneath. The fire sent heat right into my little shelter and within a few minutes I was toasty warm. After about a half hour, went and found much more wood to keep this thing going and by 1 AM I was stocked with wood and sleeping fitfully in my hay shelter. Every 90 to 120 minutes I awakened and reloaded the fire. My boots and pants and socks all dried as I slept.

At 11 AM the next morning – two apple pies later – I entered the church service, crawled out of a large appliance box on the stage and challenged our folks to "Cross the Line" into someone else's world to bring them to faith. Instead of just throwing a lifeline to them and expecting them to grasp it and pull themselves to safety – we should be willing to step over the line into their world and help them make it to the line of faith. What about you?

Have you ever been left out? Ignored? Have you ever left someone out because they were different than you? Or because they smelled? Or because they were not what you thought they should be?

Have you ever WITHHELD Jesus from someone? You can talk to your friends about school, jobs, families, sports, kids, vacations, colleges, dreams… but why is it so difficult to cross the social barrier of spirituality? I am not asking you to pick up everyone you see along the road or to spend life as a homeless person or to beg for food or dive in a dumpster – I am simply asking you, NO , I am begging you, to be willing to share with those around you about the Jesus that has transformed YOUR life…what could He do in your friend's life?

Stay tuned for more "Real Life, Real Stories and Real Answers" on this blog.