Tiny Blue Flame

 

When I was about ten years old, my family had just moved from a trailer park to a wooded lot about five miles away.  My dad had cleared the land of undergrowth and had begun building a house.  He built the shell with just the walls, floor, and roof (which was called “dried in”) and attached the trailer in the back hallway.  We used the kitchen and bathroom of the trailer while dad finished the new house.  That first winter, us boys had our bedroom in the future dining room.  I woke up one night and saw an eerie blue light in the doorway.  I cried out in fear waking up my dad and mom.  After listening to my story, but seeing nothing, my dad calmed me and turned off the lights to go back to bed.  But as soon as my head hit the pillow, I saw that scary light again.  Nothing that dad could do would calm my fears.  So, my dad had an idea: he took my place in my bed, turned off the lights and was able to see what I saw.  At just the right angle, he saw that blue light across the dark hallway into the kitchen.  And at just the right angle, through a crack in the kitchen stove, my dad saw the tiny blue flame of the gas pilot light!  The mystery of the eerie blue light was solved.  My dad was only able to calm my fears by taking my place.  And almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ took my place on Mount Calvary and calmed my fears.  By trusting in the substitutionary payment for my sins, I was born into God’s forever family!  I Peter 1:23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”  Have you been born again into God’s forever family?  Have you let Jesus calm your fears, save your soul, and give you peace within?  Join me at church this morning.  I’ll save a seat for you.