Once Burned, Twice Shy

Author: Bryan "Mo" Morrell

1990, 4th of July, small town Virginia.  I was a small but (obviously) ruggedly handsome lad on the prowl for the same thing every other boy was hoping to find that night…and I was in luck. We had a grand night planned, and we possessed a box full of illegal gigantic cool stuff that my crazy uncle had NOT purchased in the United States (if you know what I mean - contraband - my friends).

I was ready to start pulling out some of the big guns when my mom, sweet...sweet mom...in all of her motherly wisdom, pulls out a box of sparklers and hands them to us with a gleam in her eye that said, “Yeah, I know this is totally what you were waiting for.” I however, didn’t have time for this nonsense, I had bigger fish to fry…and fry I would. I took the three puny sparklers I was given, lit them all on fire at the same time, and began swinging my arm like a crazy air guitarist making gigantic circles in an attempt to make them burn faster. I needed to fast-forward with “kiddy time” and get down to brass tacks.

Well, on about the 5th or 6th rotation, I heard a boom in the distance and saw the sky light up. The annual celebration of the US of A had kicked off once again. When I turned to look, my arm swung in hard behind me and my “triple stack sparkler bundle of death”, at this point burning at around 900 degrees kelvin, came around and caught the back of my right knee - burning me worse than my 4th grade girlfriend (of 3 days) did when she told me she just wanted to be friends. I crumbled, fell to the ground in pain, and I cried like a two year old toddler who’s big brother had just hit him in the back of the knee with 3 flaming sparklers! Luckily my aunt was a nurse, she treated me, and we were able to save the leg.

I tell you that story because I think we can all agree, a small Spark can cause enormous things to happen! A single spark can light a warm cozy fire, or set a whole forest ablaze. This spring, I believe the Christian conference known through out the land as “Spark," held in Roanoke, VA, is going to be one of those events that could totally transform the trajectory of peoples' lives. Even yours. Christ followers will gather, engage in amazing worship, and be encouraged and spurred on by some of the world's best communicators (like Bob Goff!). Plus, I’ll be there doing all sorts of dumb stuff so you’re not going to want to miss that! Look, don’t be a fool and get burned in the knee…be there!