Back in 2002, a lady riding a quad got lost just outside of Payson, Arizona.  She spotted a helicopter and tried to start a signal fire to get the pilot’s attention.  Her fire burned wildly out of control.  The small signal fire she had set in the morning grew and burned over 2,000 acres by that afternoon.  It was called the Chediski fire.

It merged with the Rodeo fire, which was set by an arsonist.  It took 17 days to put out the Rodeo-Chediski fire, it burned almost ½ million acres (over 720 square miles).  At the time, it was the largest wildfire ever recorded in Arizona history.  And it was all started by a scared woman and a signal fire.

Fire has the amazing ability to reproduce itself in an almost unlimited way as long as there is fuel for it to consume.  Fire feeds on itself.  If there is enough oxygen and enough flammable material, it will continue to burn indefinitely.

James says that our words are like that signal fire.  The lady on the quad was just trying to get the attention of a helicopter because she needed help, but she wasn’t careful and the fire got away from her.  Likewise, we can use our words to try to get help or attention or sympathy from other people, but if we aren’t careful with our words, those words can be destructive.  They can get away from us.

James 3:5b-8 says, “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”