Most people will tell you that there have been times in their life, when things get so bad; they feel like they are going through the fire. That expression has been around for generations and will continue because there is nothing more painful than being burned. As a child I experienced that terrible pain more than once and dreaded the thought of it.

There are however, lessons that we learn going through the fire that we cannot learn at any other time. If I would not have felt the pain of touching a hot stove, I might have walked into a bon fire and been burned up. The pain I experienced on my hand kept me safe from the results of being burned over my whole body.

You might be thinking that everyone knows not to walk into a fire; but do they? There are many people that do indeed walk into situations that end in destruction. Many times these are the people that have never experienced walking through the fire. They were not allowed to go through the consequences of their wrong decisions and bad actions. These people are those that are doomed to walk blindly into a bon fire and they will be destroyed. The sad reality is that most of the time the people responsible for their destruction, are the ones who love them most. They have never allowed them to feel the pain of touching the hot stove.

When we go through bad times, and we will, is there a way that we can get through them without suffering destruction? Can we see that going through the fire gives us strength? Is there a life lesson in the fact that steel must go through the fire in order to hold a sharp edge? How do we stand by and watch the people we love go through the fire without destroying them by continuing to bail them out?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington Junior High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington Court House.