Refined

We are enjoying our last fire on Hubelbrunnerstr today.

Sitting on plastic camp chairs and a borrowed bed, enjoying the rain and cooler temperatures that set the stage for one last burning, our thoughts are fixed on the refinement Grace has brought these last two years.

The fire has been steady.

We have learned of anger and envy,

wrath, deceit, and slander.

Who knew these things could live together in our home,

alongside love and laughter,

peace and joy?

Today we burn our last Germany fire.

And we offer, through Jesus Christ,

a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Hebrews 13:15

His fire has cleared the land.

It has set a good foundation, that we may put away such things, and grow up in our salvation.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:3-9

We are grateful today, for the rain and the cooler temperatures,

 and the Fire that is steady but does not consume.

Amen and Amen.

Enjoy your Sabbath, Favored One.