Bonfires – What’s this all about?

Welcome to my initial offering of a regular blog that I am entitling “Bonfires: Fanning the flames of pure and simple devotion and other extraordinary tales of faith filled living”. My intentions are to post something on a regular basis, the initial goal is twice a month (possibly bi-weekly) and we’ll see where it goes from there.

Ok so why should you pay any attention whatsoever to anything I might have to say on some blog post? Unless it’s entertaining and informative in some way I suppose you shouldn’t, oh and interesting too; I’ve tried reading things that aren’t that interesting and it’s honestly just a bad experience, and I for sure don’t want to give anyone a bad reading experience. I had a bad experience at a sushi place once and I’ve pretty much given up on it since then, I would hate to write something that after reading it the person said “well that really sucked, what a waste of time.” I want to provide a reading experience that essentially doesn’t suck and isn’t a waste of anyone’s time.

Why am I calling it “Bonfires” and basically what is it about? I liked Bonfires because it’s kind of a take on my last name but also I liked the idea of being a place to gather and socialize and talk about some things in a setting that is relaxed and less formal, a place where we can be open and honest, to be transparent and real with no pretense, and to talk about raw truth but always seasoned with grace. The subtitle really gets more into the primary focus of the blog: “Fanning the flames of pure and simple devotion and other extraordinary tales of faith filled living”.

Amidst the talk of spiritual “revival” and “awakening” it seems we often times neglect the fact that the revival or awakening that we are created for is far more than an isolated encounter, and that while essential to the “born again” experience where we become infused with the life of Christ through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, that encounter should be the beginning of a journey of faith that is continually taking us deeper and deeper into the Heart of God. And that journey of faith and the process of being conformed into the image of Jesus is both exciting and terrifying, it is both exhilarating and monotonous, it is both strenuous and effortless, and it requires perseverance and it requires focus. My deep desire is to help keep us on the path of perseverance, and to maintain a focus to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is simply Jesus.

The concept of “pure and simple devotion” is taken from 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” Paul here is writing to the Corinthians because, just as Eve was deceived into believing that God was not true to His Word and that He wasn’t inherently good, the Corinthians were being swayed in their thinking to the point of believing something different (a lie) concerning Jesus – contrary to the truth regarding Jesus that the Holy Spirit through Paul had revealed to them.

The heart of this is that we stay locked in to the person of Jesus, the heart of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus. If we allow ourselves to let other things and other voices distract us from being wholly and completely tuned in to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit of God, we become susceptible to deception, some subtle and some not so subtle, and that keeps us from our highest potential in Christ.

Just to be clear, while I will write with an unwavering commitment to sound doctrine, this is not a blog given to apologetics or detailed teaching on theological perspectives (which I have a great appreciation for), but there are plenty of those around and quite frankly to most people they are bor-ring. We are going to keep it on the beauty of the simplicity of knowing Jesus and knowing the Truth of His Word.

Now the second part of that subtitle should be fun as well, “other extraordinary tales of faith filled living”. Interspersed in my blog will be stories of the life and times of our family and experiences. I feel like our story is pretty interesting, as we’ve stepped out on this journey we’ve gotten to see and experience things that I quite frankly never would have dreamed, and I have quite often marveled at how some pretty ordinary people like ourselves have found ourselves involved in some pretty extraordinary scenarios. So if we have crossed paths in any way over the years don’t be surprised if your name somehow pops up in the course of describing some escapade or adventure. And then if I can figure out some of the technical stuff I’ll add some pictures and we’ll make it a fun and enjoyable time for everyone. As they say… stay tuned!