Knowing, Not Knowing, and Thinking Again

In the summer of 1949, a group of wilderness firefighters parachuted into a remote blazing forest.  They planned to dig a trench in the soil around the flames to contain and redirect it.  But soon, the foreman Wagner Dodge saw that the raging flames, now 30 feet high, had transcended the ditch they had dug in the ground and were racing uncontrollably right toward them, moving so fast their lives were in sheer danger.  

Dodge instructed the others to turn around and run up the slope to safety.  But after a few minutes, instead of relying on his physical speed to outrun the intense blazes, Dodge began lighting matches and starting little fires in the grass ahead of him on the slope.  The other men thought he was crazy and kept on running upwards for their lives.

Dodge then soaked his handkerchief with water from his canteen, covered his mouth with the wet cloth, and lay face down on the charred area he had just burned,  The wildfire continued to consume the slope, but passed over him, and he was saved by breathing the remaining oxygen close to the ground.

Of the fifteen men, only Dodge survived, as well as two others who had reached the ridge by running.  Physical fitness may account for the two who got up the slope in time.  "But Dodge prevailed because of mental fitness," states Adam Grant in his 2021 book Think Again:  The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Grant points out in his book, Dodge had no special training in creating what is now known as an "escape fire."   Dodge thought differently about the situation around him and responded immediately. And most likely he had practiced thinking differently on many other occasions, not just in the face of crisis.  What are the facts?  How do I respond?

But what about how spiritual fitness impacts our thinking? Our attitudes and perspectives are transformed not about thinking differently, but praying differently.  How do I see my circumstances? How do I approach this dilemma differently because I brought it before the LORD? How can I act, respond, and yes, think again about this in light of the Almighty?

Have I even considered praying about this?

I recently came across an index card in my desk where I had written, "If you don't pray, don't expect anything different."

Praying does not just change things.  Praying transforms my heart.  Praying changes my brain cells.

How am I supposed to do this hard thing, O LORD?

The subtitle of the book suggests "the power of knowing what you don't know."  I would rewrite that:  the power of knowing Who does.  All through the Bible, God used unlikely people in unexpected surroundings that they would recognize Him.  Even in what did not make sense to them at the time, God was faithful.  "Build an ark, Noah." 

It is not a matter of following an impulse or a set of directions, but responding to God.  At the beginning of every day or in the face of a dilemma, Henri Nouwen often wrote,  memoria Dei.  Remember God.  

Even in the midst of danger or crisis, split second timing or a long endurance, we are able to respond to God, when we have practiced trusting Him in the past.  We each have a chronicle of His faithfulness even in the little stuff -- which is never so little after all.  And that chronicle is our playbook for both now and the next.

God is still faithful.  Even in this.

How can we think differently?    Seeking God daily and being faithful in the ordinary.  Listen to Me.

 

Do not be afraid of sudden terror

   or the storm of the wicked

                  when it comes,

for the LORD will be your confidence

and will keep your foot

            from being caught.

                               Proverbs 3. 25-26 

"If we do not do the running steadily in the little ways, we shall do nothing in the crisis," stated Oswald Chambers in his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. 

O LORD,

Order our days.

Guide our steps.

Direct our thoughts.

Align our hearts with Yours.