Devotional, November 14, 1999

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Each week you will be able to read a devotional
thought which we hope you will find
enjoyable and comforting
as well as
insightful and challenging.

There are two things which happened this year which share much in common:

Three young men in Oklahoma were enjoying the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and wanted to apparently test fire some fireworks. Their only real problem was that their launch pad and seating arrangements were atop a several hundred thousand gallon fuel distillation storage tank.

Oddly enough, some fumes were ignited, producing a fireball seen for miles.

They were launched several hundred feet into the air and were found dead 250 yards from their respective seats.

In a west Texas town, employees in a medium-sized warehouse noticed the smell of gas. Sensibly, management evacuated the building, extinguishing all potential sources of ignition -- lights, power, etc.

After the building had been evacuated, two technicians from the gas company were dispatched. Upon entering the building, they found they had difficulty navigating in the dark. To their frustration, none of the lights worked.

Witnesses later described the vision of one of the technicians reaching into his pocket and retrieving an object that resembled a lighter. Upon operation of the lighter-like object, the gas in the warehouse exploded, sending pieces of it up to three miles away.

Nothing was found of the technicians, but the lighter was virtually untouched by the explosion. The technician that was suspected of causing the explosion had never been thought of as "bright" by his peers.

Years ago, Jim Croce, in his song, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", used to sing about things that you don't dare do (pull the mask off the Lone Ranger or tug on Superman's cape, for example). He might have done well to add, "You don't flick your Bic inside a building with a gas leak"! In an explosive situation, the last thing you want to do is provide the spark.

We've all been around those kinds of situations (not literally, but figuratively) -- where someone was angry and it wouldn't take much to create an explosion. We have two choices in that setting, described by Solomon in this way:

"A gentle answer will calm a person's anger,
but an unkind answer will cause more anger." (Prov. 15:1, NCV).

How I admire those people I know (and my wife is one of them) who have a calming effect on those around them (including me), gently stifling the
flames of anger before they burst in flames.

"Wise people calm anger down."
(Prov. 29:8b, NCV)

May God help us all to be wise.

Have a great week!

In Jesus' name, Amen.

This weeks thought and comments comes from Thought-for-the-day, a daily devotional which you can receive daily on line by subscribing at:

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thought-for-the-day@eGroups.com

It is created by Alan Smith,
Boone Church of Christ,
Boone, NC