Last night a friend and I cleaned out my garage and added to my already large burn pile of branches and pallets.  There was virtually no wind and it had recently rained, so I knew it was safe to burn my stuff.  I told my friend what I was doing and he saw me go to the burn pile with my red gas can.

However, what we soon discovered was that it wasn't safe to light the burn pile!

I poured a liberal amount of “accelerant” on the wood and tried to light the fire with a match that proved ineffective. But as I went back in the house to get fresh matches, he went to the burn pile with the kind of lighter you light a grill with.

As I came out of the garage I heard an explosion and soon smelled burnt hair.  He said “I thought you put kerosene on the wood!”

While there are many lessons to be learned from this experience, a primary lesson that comes to my mind is the importance of effective communication!

So to all my pyromaniac friends out there: let's be careful!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark