This time of the year in Florida and throughout the southeast we conduct what are called “controlled burns”. Fires are deliberately set and underbrush, dead trees, and undesirable vegetation is burned off. If you live in this area you will see and smell the smoke from these fires most every day of the spring (that it’s not raining or too windy).
The results are astounding. Within days beautiful green native grasses and wildflowers start popping up through the blackened forest floor and life wonderfully renews itself. Mature trees survive the controlled burning unscathed, and benefit enormously by the removal of undesirable brush and vegetation that do little more than suck up nutrients from them.
The most amazing thing about controlled burning to me is the Longleaf pine tree. Even small seedlings that barely stand a foot high, not only survive the flames and heat, but seem to thrive on it. The entire seedling will be brown and scorched and it looks “graveyard dead”; however if one looks closely you will see a whitish green bud that appears at the very top of the seedling. Within days that little bud and seedling begin to grow like crazy. It will sprout up a foot or more literally within days.
My son Michael admired this tree so much that he named his software company, (Longleaf Solutions), after it. It’s a great name for a start-up company because new companies nearly always initially experience the heat of fire and wicked flames as the growing pains dominate the early years of most any new company. Entrepreneurs who become successful withstand those early years like the Longleaf pine; they thrive in spite of the pain of the flame and go on to grow strong and tall.
Recently I’ve been receiving well intentioned advice, (warnings), on a daily basis concerning our upcoming event. I feel a firestorm of criticism coming and in fact it is already beginning and I’m mentally preparing myself for it.
A good friend sent me a synopsis of how movements in God’s church begin and it is probably best described as a cycle. It is as follows:
Innovators – Visionaries come up with original ideas, lay out the vision that God has given them and kick start the movement
Early Adopters – Catch the vision early in the process and these leaders are willing to bring others into the movement and ignite the fire
Late adopters – Progress is made and the masses eventually see what is happening, and though it takes them a while for them to buy in, they do eventually come on board and the movement rages forward
Laggards – The final group are the folks who are the critics and cannot see what God is doing and will never buy in.
Hmmm . . . This reminds me of the burning process. The innovators understand the need for getting rid of the “dead wood” and undesirable vegetation and in stimulating new growth to grow a forest of strong useful trees via burning. They devise a plan to cut the fire breaks and line up some workers, (those would be the early adopters), who quickly catch the vision and get on board in the beginning to assist along with their sphere of influence. Together they ignite a fire that swiftly sweeps through the forest. The result of their efforts is astounding; new growth buds out all over the scorched forest and soon everywhere one looks it is absolutely gorgeous and beautiful and the late adopters begin to jump on board in large numbers.
What about the laggards? Well they could enjoy it too, but often are too blinded by the smoke and too busy complaining to see and enjoy much of anything.
The vision that I have been given by God is to unite all believers into one coalition of believers beginning in America and then throughout the world. All one has to do in order to become a member is to take five minutes and go online on their cell phone, I Pad, or computer and simply affirm that indeed they believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for their sins and that they want to follow Him and not the world.
Sound easy? Sound controversial? How could anyone complain about millions of believers affirming their faith in Christ?
Ha! Ha! Ha! People are people . . .
I take God literally when He says that He wants us to be unified in Christ. I also believe Him when He promises to bless us with every spiritual blessing that He has in His arsenal if we will do so.
Eph. 1:3 – All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms BECAUSE we are united with Christ.
I tell employees and others all of the time that “teams” win Super Bowls, and not “individuals”. Unification is essential to success. I hope in a few weeks when you are invited to become a member of our coalition of believers that you will join our team and become an early adopter. We need every spiritual blessing that God will bestow upon us in order to restore sanity to America and the world at large. God cannot lie and has made promises that He will keep, provided we will do our part.
Though we might take some heat and even get burned in the early stages of this movement cycle, we must understand that we are like the little Longleaf pine. God will protect us and make us grow strong through the firestorm of attacks and criticism. In the end we will tower above the forest, standing majestic and lovely as a testament to God’s awesome glory, mercy, grace, and His love for those who believe and remain faithful to Him.
2 Chronicles 7:14
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
March 13, 2014 – Click here to listen