We enjoy our woodstove on these chilly nights but I could not get it to work. It would not draw. Instead of the smoke going up the chimney it filled the house as the fire quickly burned out. I exhausted my repertoire of ideas as to what to do and finally called a chimney sweep thinking some squirrel or something had during the summer plugged up the flue. The sweep opened the stove reached in and pulled a plug of newspapers out of the flue. He fixed the problem in less than thirty seconds. So how did the newspapers get plugged up in the flue? For a few days while we were gone some friends from overseas needed a place to stay so we allowed them to use our home. Need I say more?
Fire just like people cannot exist without air. Without adequate air we don’t last very long. Without Jesus we don’t and cannot last very long. This world is under His constant care. In the Gospel of John Jesus calls Himself, the water of life, the bread of life, the light, the door, the resurrection and the life. I found myself thinking He should have also said He is the air we breathe. Some might be tempted so say, “What about people who care nothing about Jesus. How do they live?” In Matthew 5 Jesus said, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” The “He” He is referring to is His Father. But since He and the Father are one in purpose and in Hebrews 1 we are told that Jesus is the Creator, we can safely say it is His care that gives life and breath to all. Take a deep breath and then thank Him for the privilege
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 30, 2012
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