Last week, we started this series on the book of James.  The church is its 2nd decade of existence, the Jews were scattered, so James writes a letter to the churches to give counsel and as a guide to help Jewish Christians navigate cultures with completely different norms and their beliefs than those that existed in Jerusalem.  We shared about suffering, how that suffering exists and is the natural course of life since the fall of mankind but that suffering doesn’t change the fact that God is good.  Suffering exists but as God’s children, He can use the trials of life to develop us into complete and mature Christians.  That is why James starts his letter off with “consider it pure joy.”  Remember, James was writing this letter to help navigate the Christian Jews on practical things of living as Christians in a world of different cultures and beliefs.

This morning, I want us to look at a subject that James writes about concerning faith.  Do you remember the devastating fires of Yellowstone National Park that burned out of control for months in 1988? Hundreds of thousands of acres were blackened and people across the US and around the world mourned the ruining of that beautiful national landmark.

Scientists discovered that the fires of 1988 were the best thing that ever happened at Yellowstone. They discovered that one species of pine tree reproduces itself only when a fire's heat opens the pine cones, sending spores floating to the ground. Those adult trees, though killed by the fire, have brought forth a flourishing new crop. And this new food source allows the growth of larger herds of elk, bison, and moose. What seemed like a terrible loss three decades ago has brought new life to Yellowstone today!

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