How Is The Fire In Your Life?

Back on June 12th , 2012 I presented some thoughts from a book, A Tale Of Three Ships, written by Dwight Edwards. If you did not read that post you may want to in the near future. I recently read through his latest book, Kindling For The Fire: Meditations to Warm the Heart and Ignite the Spirit. Dwight is effective at using metaphors and analogy to bring his points out in improving the reader’s life. This book is a devotional spiritual guide looking at the attributes of fire in relation to a person’s relationship to God. Kindling For The Fire is a book to be enjoyed read slowly to gain the depth of the richness of his writings.

He mentions that there are over 90 references to fire in relation to the nature of God and our relationship to him. One of my favorite references to this is Malachi 3:3,” And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold & silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” This relates well with Job 23:10 “But He knows the way I take; He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Refining is intense fire and pressure used in precious metals to remove impurities and increase the worth and value of the precious metal. Part of the relationship daily walk with God is to allow him to apply heat to our lives to improve so that we are closer in living a Christ like lifestyle. Our lives are more worthwhile in purpose if we are open to the refiner’s fire in our life.

Even though Dwight’s book focuses in on the spiritual life I began to think after reading it how the analogy of fire relates to other aspects of life. The phrase “fire in the belly” often is connected to one’s motivation for interests in life. A salesman who has a passion for a product or service is considered fired up with excitement in selling. A person who has a passion for a hobby has “fire in the belly” for that hobby. I feel that is because fire is a source of energy.

Just think of the sun. It is a fireball about 93,000,000 miles from the earth. That far away, the heat and energy of the sun provides life on our planet earth. Fires provide heat for homes and cooking. Therefor it is an easy analogy to link the energy internally we have for our passions in our life as a fire. What happens when the fire goes out? When we have darkness we have lack of energy. Think through times when your power has gone out. Your life is much more difficult as you stumble around in the darkness. I remember during hurricane season when we were out of power for several days. That was not an enjoyable time being without energy.

There are times where we should do a check on how the fire is going in our lives. These are times to consider if the fire of passion in relationships, work, or hobbies has been going down to just embers. If coldness is setting into life there is a need to kindle the fire within to renew a passion for the things in life that are the most important to you.

Reflection: Considers the areas of your life: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. Also look at relationships, work and leisure hobbies. What is the level of the fire of passion and energy in those areas? What can you do to rekindle the fire in your life in the areas where coldness is setting in?

Which Ship Do You Want To Be On?

(I am trying to write something each Friday but since I will be out of town I thought I would post this early)


In looking at our life journey I am a strong believer in the power of metaphors to help us shaping our direction. That is why I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Tale Of Three Ships by Dwight Edwards. He is an author I met at the recent author luncheon I wrote about. He is an author, Pastor of a church in Houston and President of High Octane for the Mind. If you still need to purchase a gift for a high school or college graduate this makes an excellent choice to help shape a young person’s life. He looks at our lives as being one of three types of ships.

His driving thrust is that we are created for a purpose. To go beyond just existing in life or just getting by, or where we look back and see that life has past us by in our final days we need passion and purpose. In that search in our life we are on at one time or another one of three ships. It is our choice which one we spend the most time on.

The first one he writes of is the Sinking Ship. Doesn’t sound like a nice one, but in reality many people spend much of their time there. This is the ship where we are living in survival mode. “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” -Henry David Thoreau. This quote describes this ship rather well. There is a song in each of us that is meant to be shared with the world. For most sadly it remains silent as they allow life to pass them buy just like a herd of cows grazing and sleeping life away. Never trying anything new or taking a risk. Just living paycheck to paycheck and waiting for life to end.

The second ship is the cruise ship. Now we are talking. If you have never taken a cruise you should try it. All your comforts are met, food anytime you desire, and totally relaxing. The cruise ship is a metaphor for a life full of materialism and the pursuit of the pleasure principle. Is life just about acquiring more stuff than the next person? Living just for pleasure and material things leaves us in the end with just a bunch of stuff at the end of life. King Solomon’s one major theme in Ecclesiastes is that a life striving after things is just vanity. This again does not mean it is wrong to enjoy a vacation, a movie night, a fine restaurant, ect. The question is should that be a focal point of our existence? Ponder over these words by psychologist, William James , “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” He was speaking of doing significant things in our life. Our toys and stuff just wind up in resale shops or junk yards after our death.

The final ship is the battleship. This is not about starting fights he is using the battleship as a metaphor for making a difference or having a significant impact in life. This hearkens back to the previous William James quote. This ship looks at a life where having a significance and a purpose in your life is an important focal point. The author terms it as having a noble cause. Here he quotes one of my favorite authors Psychiatrist Victor Frankl, “ Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity.” Frankl’s words take us back to the concept that we all have a purpose for our life. Part of the adventure is finding the purpose and living it out.

As I look back most of my life has been mostly on the sinking ship and a journey on the battleship with a little bit of cruise ship tossed in. The author points out that we spend time on each ship. In seeking the best life possible and living an exceptional life we need to focus in on ship number three the battle ship – living for a noble cause.

Reflection: What ship are you presently spending most of your time on? Take 20-30 minutes to journal or draw your dreams of what battleship living looks like to you? What specific opportunity do you see in your ships telescope that is an area you can have significance in? Is it a particular cause or person you can spend more time with?

Supporting Our Local Libraries

As a dedicated bookhead, I believe part of living more than ok is supporting my local library. When we moved to New Braunfels a trip to the library to obtain library cards was one of the first things we did as a family. As I was taking some books back a couple weeks ago, on the library door I noticed a sign promoting a Book and Author Luncheon. Since I had finished teaching my classes at the College I decided to purchas a ticket and go.

I was glad to see it was a fundraiser for renovating of the Children’s Room at the New Braunfels Public Library . This made an inner connection with me. I thought back to when I was in second grade during my Summers at the library in my hometown of Barberton, Ohio that my love of reading began with the Children Department’s Summer reading program. Programs like that is where creating bookheads begin by encouraging children to read. The children’s department was on the second floor and very bright and cheery. I remember the librarians were always positive and encouraging as they would ask what the books were about that I took out to read.
On the day of the luncheon they had a full house. The community support for the library says good things about New Braunfels. They had a display of how the new children’s room would look like, a silent auction, tables set up for the authors, and a bookselling table for the author’s books.

I was interested in hearing from the authors who spoke during the luncheon. Let me introduce you to the authors I heard. Each of their stories varied as to what moved them into writing.

Coert Vorhees has been a journalist, teacher, Fulbright scholar. Most of his writing is for middle and senior high school students. If you are a teacher you must check out his grammaropolis.com website to help youngsters with grammar. I like how he told me he made it to help the vegetables go down. How true, even college students do not enjoy going over grammar basics.

Earle Martin is a retired Episcopal Priest and psychotherapist. He shared with us his new book The Boy Who Saved My Life . The story is about his relationship as a grandparent with his autistic grandson. He shared how his grandson helped pull him out of a time of deep depression. It is a compelling story to encourage people in their relationships with special needs children in their sphere of influence.

Diana Untermeyer spoke of how her experience as a diplomat’s wife opened up an opportunity to write her first book about the country of Qatar. The title is Qatar: Sand, Sea, and Sky. It has amazing photography work in it.

John Demers was the most prolific of the featured authors with 37 books to his credit. With his stories of growing up in New Orleans during his presentation and his being a food editor it was no surprise that his non-fiction and fiction books relate to the world of food. You may want to check out his blog Delicious Mischief.


Dwight Edwards was the last author to present. He is a pastor in the Houston area and president of Highoctaneforthemind.com which encourages people to live at peak performance. His latest book is A Tale of Three Ships : Charting Your Course In Life. If you are looking for a gift for a high school grad or college grad this book has a positive message for them. Of course I believe it can help anyone at any stage of their life journey.

I am glad I took time to support my local library with this Book Author Luncheon. Just hearing the author’s stories I received much more back than the initial ticket price. Of course I enjoyed winning a door prize of Marble Slab Creamery ice cream as well. If you ever have a chance to attend a author luncheon try it out. If your local library is doing a fundraiser be a supporter to encourage reading in our culture.

Reflection: Think back to your experiences with libraries. What memories do you remember? Write these down in your journal. Take some time to visit your local library if you have not done so recently.