When I was a little girl, I dreamed of visiting all the beautiful and special places we learned about in school. Niagara Falls, Mt Rushmore, Denali, Monument Valley, Maine, Texas and so many more. One place I especially wanted to visit was the great Redwood Forests of California.

I’ve ALWAYS been drawn to pine cones. I have no idea why. Maybe because they are like natural ornaments hanging on the pine trees. Then when they drop, they carry the seeds that make a new forest. In my eyes, they were, and still are a small miracle.

So just imagine my surprise when I picked up my first Redwood pine cone. For such a great and massive tree, they were surprisingly small. I could hold one in my hand with room to spare! I don’t know what I thought…maybe that they would be the size of a five-gallon bucket? The trees are tremendous. I never dreamed the treasure of their seed would be in a small cone.

Getting to walk the long trail, touch the tender bark, marvel that some were living while our Jesus walked in Israel was overwhelming. I could not take in their beauty and strength. I just had to sit and look and wonder.

The park ranger told us that fire was actually a friend of the Redwoods. If there is a fire, the trees are usually not destroyed The underbrush is removed and that is beneficial to the trees. But the most important thing fire accomplishes is facilitating the cones to release the seeds they contain. Without the fire, the little cones remain closed and the seeds do not release. Without fire, there would be no new trees.

In my morning prayers, I pray for our brothers and sisters around the world. I especially pray for those living in countries where persecution is the norm for Christians. The horrific accounts of all they endure break my heart. I ask Father God to “deliver them out of the hand of the wicked”. I thought my prayers were compassionate.

But, as I have been reading accounts of missionaries in Muslim, Hindu, and Buddist countries, they indicate that new believers in those countries expect persecution. Their prayer request is that their faith might not fail. In China, those believers ask that prayers made on their behalf would be for their faith and understanding to grow while in prison. They look at the time they spend incarcerated as a seminary of sorts. I was amazed. Here in the Western world, that would be the last thing we would think.

It seems that persecution is the fire that plants the seeds for new churches and the salvation of entire families. In the Word, we see the same scenarios. For example, Stephen was martyred and great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. The new Believers scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Scattered like seeds in the wind by the fire of persecution.
In these changing times, I wonder what might lie ahead for us as Believers. Only Father God knows for sure. My idea of fire and persecution may be in a state of change. I don’t desire persecution. I have no romanticized or silly ideas about it. Persecution is not something I look forward to or want to see my loved ones endure. Fire is no joke. But just maybe, if it does come because we have confessed Jesus Christ, we can be like our brothers and sisters who already stand in that fire. We can ask that our faith not fail and the Name of Jesus be proclaimed.

Can we be like those Redwood cones and when the fire does come, seeds of faith in Jesus Christ be released…scatter over the land…and new Believers grow strong and tall?