Muck Fires
I’ll take the firestorm over the Muck any day.
When it comes to fire classifications, you can see, hear, and feel the onset of a raging firestorm. Smoke billows through the air; the coal-hot wood snaps and cracks; wind in the flames hiss; and the heat—it melts your heart cause your skin is already toast. Brash and consuming, a firestorm makes its brazen presence known. See one of those monsters coming, and you’re going to call for a fire hose.
But the Muck (a fire underground) can burn underfoot. The Muck is a sneaky little devil of a fire, creeping along underground, tearing at the fabric of a forest’s foundation and you’ll never know it’s there.
The Science on Fires
According to Vikaspedia, Mucks (underground fires) are fires of low intensity, consuming the organic matter beneath and the surface litter on top of the forest floor. These fires can burn meters below the surface and spread slowly. The Muck is hard to detect or control and can burn for months and destroy the vegetative cover of the soil, depleting the soil of valuable nutrients.
But firestorms, on the other hand, are intense fires spreading rapidly over large areas. As the fire burns, heat rises and air rushes in causing the fire to grow and spin like a tornado. Temperatures inside can reach around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Firestorms are obvious, oncoming disasters.
Hard to believe, but, like I said, I’m less fearful of the terrible, nail-biting, hair-raising firestorm than the tricky, slick Muck and here’s why: I liken that pesky Muck to the frog in the boiling kettle anecdote.
Frogs in Kettles
You remember the frog in the kettle. The anecdote goes like this: if you put a fresh frog in boiling water, to save his hide, he’ll hop right out of the pot. But if you place the frog in tepid waters and slowly turn up the heat, the frog won’t notice and will continue to swim around until his legs eventually become someone’s five o’clock hors d’ovueres.
As I’m writing I’m harkened back to the beginning of March in 2020, when we got word the entire city would shut down for two weeks because of a then-called coronavirus that swept the nation. I told my team at work that day, we’ll either buckle down for a couple of weeks till this thing blows through, or we’re about to watch the drip, drip corrosion of our society—life as we know it will take a drastic turn.
Guess which thing I predicted happened.
Drip. Drip.
Here we are in October of 2021, and we’ve grown so tired of the daily drip, we’ve looked past the insanity before our eyes.
As far as the virus is concerned, we’ve gone from goals of herd immunity to goals of mass vaccinations to people who are cautious about vaccines losing their jobs. From hearing that masks don’t work to masks are mandatory, and the flip flopping came from the same person—the one in charge of the CDC. In a year, we’ve moved from the vaccines will protect you to the vaccines don’t protect anybody, but get one anyway. From denials by our government and trusted medical communities that fetal tissue is part of the vaccine make up to confessions privately taped that, oops, there just happens to be fetal tissue in at least one of the vaccine brands. And the Covid-19 virus? It was created in a lab , it was created in a bat, it was created by aliens. Which is it?
Drip.
We’ve heard one side of the government aisle scream, “It’s her body, and right to choose,” when it comes to abortion, but the government rail, “Your body is ours,” when it comes to a virus.
Drip.
Let us not forget the confusion with civil unrest. In 2020, we learned that you can openly and enthusiastically riot, loot, and destroy businesses in one city, while in others, you’re considered a terrorist if you peacefully protest.
Drip.
As of this last week, moms and dads who want to speak to their elected school board officials at open meetings will be haunted by the [in my opinion, debunked] FBI. What happened to addressing our own elected officials, letting each know our desires? Aren’t they our public servants? Nope. As it turns out, they are tyrants seated on the golden thrones built on the backs of taxpayers.
Drip.
And Censorship? Censorship has become what the social media platforms use as a magic wand. With the push of a button, controlling media giants can make your opinion or mine disappear. Like. We. Were. Nothing. What happened to free speech, healthy debate, and honest investigations? Gone with the push of a little delete box. Poof.
Drip.
Children with a .05 percent chance of death by Covid are masked and vaccinated with no studies of long-term affects on the younger population. The CDC’s own VAERS numbers, are proving to be more than troublesome and no one is calling for a halt until further studies can be done.
Drip.
As of today, in Chicago, rival thug gangs can conduct open-air daylight shootouts with no, zippo, nada legal repercussions. I suggest you stay away from Chicago in the daylight hours. Oh, and the night hours, too.
Drip.
Have we lost our minds?
No. We’ve lost our passion for right and wrong, and like the frog in the kettle, as long as we can swim through life with as much normalcy as possible, we won’t notice that the water is heating up and we are headed to a boiling point.
9/11 – Case in Point
I keep thinking back to 9/11. That mind-blowing event came at us like a firestorm. Our whole nation mourned, churches filled to the brims, and prayer emails outnumbered the spam circulating through our In-boxes. We stared the enemy in the eye and said, never again. Thanks to our resolve and unity, a terrorist act of that magnitude has not happened on American soil since.
But here’s the difference between then and now. The enemy, then, came in like a firestorm and melted our hearts. In the face of that deadly force of evil, we rose and united.
It’s Alive – The Muck
Today, the enemy slinks around beneath our feet like the Muck fire, burning our foundational roots and corrupting our soil. We’ve hardly noticed because in the drip, drip, drip, of bad economic news, health woes, and political corruption, we’ve grown tired and just … want … our … lives …back. We’ve not united. We’ve thrown stones of blame at one another.
Our lives aren’t coming back, my friends. Everything from here on out will be radically different. I know this because I’ve read the book. The Word explains it all from how humankind came to be to how humankind exits the earth we know today.
And The Muck burns on.
But, as you’ll read in the Scriptures below, we need to protect our at-risk roots. And we must continue to plant seeds in the good soil that is eroding by the day. We must recognize the spiritual warfare below the surface of our society and fight like hell. Battle in the name of the Lord.
Protect Your Roots; Protect Your Soil
Jeremiah 17:11 – “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Mark 4:17 – And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
Matthew 13:23 – As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Luke 8:15 – As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Let’s put out the Muck together.
Grab your fire hose. Spray and pray!!
If I perish, I perish,
Laurie
Author Laurie Green Westlake 