Smokin'

Our city is smokin' right now...

And it's really bad too.  Lava Butte on the South end of town has had a fire going on about 70 acres for 24 hours now.  It's surrounded by, well, lava flows, so the fire can't escape.  That means the fire service is letting it burn out.  That also means that every asthma patient within 100 miles is suffering severely.  Our receptionist here at Faith has been on her inhaler "like it's candy."

Her words, not mine.

I have a breakfast I attend with some of our guys from Faith every Wednesday morning.  I came out of the restaurant at 7:15 AM and nearly coughed up a lung on my way to the car.  We're begging for the thunderstorms to commence this afternoon that the weatherman teased us with this morning.  It would certainly help us with the smoke, not to mention the lawns that are presently drying up. 

But the truth is, we really have nothing to complain about...

Winter was really long and wet this year.  It snowed the first week of July.  Finally, FINALLY we got some really nice weather and we've had no rain for about a month now.   And so of course, we look for other things to complain about. 

I shared one of my favorite quotes on Sunday with the people at Faith; "If you're content with what you have, you'll never pay full price for what you want."  I want to believe that somehow this quote somehow relates to the weather too, but it's really a stretch.  Central Oregonians live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.  People who were not content in other parts of this world, i.e. California (insert laughter here by every native Oregonian), move to Central Oregon in droves.  It's an amazing place to live.  The sun always comes out.  But it also means that during this time of year our contentment is challenged by the wild fires that are most often produced by dry storms and lightening strikes. 

Unfortunately, in order to have one form of beauty, you often need to put up with "another" difficulty that comes along with it.  The San Francisco Bay Area has weather and earthquakes, Atlanta is an amazing metropolitan city but is also known as "Hotlanta" this time of year.  In fact every time I've been to Phoenix where all the Pacific Northwest snowbirds fly for the winter, I've always been asked by the natives, "Why are you here?"  I think it is because I always seem to wind up there in the summer...

There are trade-offs in this life in so many areas.  The toughest part are our choices; to choose so well that the difficulties seem non-existent. 

I have found one life choice that far outweighs perceived difficulty.  Isaiah 61:3 tells us that God will exchange  "beauty for ashes" through His Son, the Promised One of Israel.  It's true.  In Matthew 13, Jesus spoke of a businessman who was seeking fine pearls.  When he found one of infinite value, he went home and sold everything so he could have it.  That "pearl" is the Christ.  No matter what happens in this life, no matter what people say about you or your faith, it is worth it all...

Addendum - Full Disclosure: Our kids are natives, my wife and I are foreigners...from Washington state.  Yes I'm laughing too!