A member of a certain
church, who previously had been attending services
regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor
decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor
found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing
fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man
welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace
and waited.
The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In
the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames
around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor
took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly
burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all
alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The
host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one
lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow
and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and
"dead as a doornail." Not a word had been
spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the pastor
was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and
placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it
began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the
burning coals around it.
As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said,
"Thank you so much for your visit and especially for
the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next
Sunday."
