Friends,

The 22,000 acre wildfire above Glendora has given me pause. As it rages on,
I got to thinking about what it might mean to think about God as a consuming
fire, the way the writer of Hebrews does. Certainly not a pleasant - even
though accurate - image. Anyway, here is a stab at part of it.

Bill

I have, for the last few years, been conducting what
appears to be a one-man, losing, battle to save the word,
"awesome" from degenerating into meaninglessness
through misuse. Cars are not awesome. Neither are
boyfriends or girlfriends. Very few experiences qualify as
awesome. Anytime "awesome" is followed by "dude" you
can be sure it has been misused. The reason I have been
fighting this battle is because there are no worthy
substitutes on the vocabulary horizon. Once "awesome" is
lost, there isn't much left to express the inexpressible.

"Awesome" ought to be reserved for those rare occasions on
which you are left weak in the knees and slightly, if not
completely, terrified. It is the profound and reverent dread
inspired by soul-shaking, soul-shaping encounter with God.
It is a kind of solemn wonder for which words are rarely
adequate. It is what the writer of Hebrews had in mind
when he wrote, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the
hands of the living God."

As I looked at the miles long ridge of fire on the hills
above our city last night I was struck by the idea that it is
for just a reality as this that the word awesome exists. No
greater feeling of helplessness is there than when
watching thousands of acres of dried brush erupt in raging,
racing, flames shooting into the hot night air. In the face of
such flaming fury, there are no words. Just awe. Awe settles
into the pit of the stomach in the round robin of
adrenalinized excitement and uncertain, out of our control,
outcomes.

While we do not need to be afraid, we do need to be the
kinds of people who can be awed - who have not lost touch
with the deeper realities of the universe. This is what
Jesus was after when he reminded us that, while it is not
necessary to fear the one who can only take our life, awe is
an entirely appropriate response to the One who can
destroy our soul. We ought swallow hard - and change our
ways as a result of such encounter. Awe engenders
repentance, worship, reverence. If any other response is
adequate, the encounter is probably not awesome - and some
other word should be used.