When the apostle Paul found himself shipwrecked and soaking wet on the island of Malta (Acts 28), he and the other sailors approached a fire the islanders had built to warm them. Paul gethered a bundle of sticks to strengthen the fire and was bit by the viper. In stoking the fire Paul was where he needed to be, for the sailors and the islanders wound up greatly blessed by his presence. We live in a cold, dark world that needs a fire. Like the brazen alter’s fire that God lit and the priests kept burning for 800 years, the gospel is a fire the world needs and we need to stoke!
