Bush Fires

Oct 7, 2015 @ 3pm, by Emmanuel Higgins

The night before last, we woke up to the roar and crackle of a fire in the bush about 500 meters from the house we were staying at. We all jumped out of bed and hurried to the verandah to see what was going on. The bush was blazing with flames 3 or 4 meters high as the grass trees went up. After a couple of minutes we were reassured to see a truck from the local fire brigade in attendance.

Turns out this line of fire was an emergency back-burn, being put in to protect us from a fire that had started on the other side of the hill. Some irresponsible person had abandoned a car and set it on fire during the night. The nearby bush had caught alight, resulting in the backburn to counter that advancing front.

Next morning our curiosity go the best of us and we had to investigate everything :).

We've come accross a couple of bushfires recently. Below is a picture of one we drove past on the way to Mackay last week.

It did looked eerily beautiful against the night sky! Although we certainly hope no great damage to property or life was caused by it.

For the Australian bush, fire can actually be a healthy thing. In fact, some trees, like the Banksia tree, actually depend on fire. Most species of Banksia only release their seeds in the wake of a fire. Bushfires can help keep the bush clean and open as well.

And maybe... just maybe in our lives we need a fire to sweep through and clean out the things that aren't for our best good. Maybe we need to be 'tried with fire'. May we be strengthened through these fiery trials and develop characters that best honour our great and loving God.