In Exodus 3, God was setting up Moses for an adventure to let him know that he is God. God wanted to get Moses? attention, so he sent an angel as a flame of fire in a bush. Can you imagine watching a bush burn and the fire never turn the bush into ashes? It is obvious that God was saying, ?Hello, I?m here, Moses.?
This story reminds me of an incident that happened in my family with my nephew Tony when he was 4-years-old. His mom purchased candles for his birthday cake that were not supposed to blow out.
At the appropriate time we sang Happy Birthday to him and Tony tried to blow out the candles. He huffed and puffed and the candles would not go out.
Tony comes from a strong spiritual family that prays and studies the Word of God together daily. Tony became anxious because he was told that if he blew out all the candles Jesus would hear his wish.
He stood there for a moment perplexed and stunned and yes, he meditated on this big catastrophe. Tony was taught that God had all power in his hands and when the enemy was acting ugly, you rebuke him. So he said, ?I rebuke you candles, in the name of Jesus.?
Well, a miracle did not happen. The candles did not go out; however, this gave his mother an opportunity to have a teachable moment with her son.
She also took the opportunity to engage in a conversation to help him to discern between reality and spirituality.
The burning bush also reminds me of another story from my own life. I, too, had an incident at the age of 4. My family went to church, but they had not developed a personal relationship with God. It was at an Easter evening service and my dad, who was a deacon in the church, took me to the evening program.
The worship leader asked me to sing. Dad escorted me to the front and gave me the microphone. Unlike my nephew, I wasn?t thinking spiritually.
I looked at Dad smiling at me and I knew that I could do this; I could sing in front of 200 people.
With hands demonstrating the words, I made my debut. I sang ?Pistol packing mama, lay that pistol down, pistol packing mama, lay that pistol down.?
That was the chorus. Daddy arrived before I could sing the verses.
We need to teach our children that they need to know God for themselves. Then, when they get older, they will not depart from the word of God. Tony is now 32-years-old and he still loves the Lord.
Me? I?ve just come on board here, working in the field of leadership development for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
Jesus is the light of our salvation, and yes, the bush is still burning, calling, equipping and sending our Baltimore-Washington Conference teams to a greater adventure in him.
Helen Fleming is a new staff member for leadership development and assistant to the bishop in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
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