Founded in 1854, Centralia, Pennsylvania looked poised to have a good future. Nestled in a valley surrounded by tree-covered hills, Centralia was close to a good water source and an abundance of coal. People moved in, industry sprung up and the little town was on its way.
Then in May of 1962, everything changed. One story states that the town wanted to clean up the local landfill, so they hired five fire fighters so go set the dump on fire. Unfortunately, the fire not only burned the garbage, but also a coal seam that ran under the dump. Whether the fire fighter were unable to deal with the coal fire, or whether they thought it would just burn itself out is unclear. What became clear, though, was that the fire was going to be heard form again.
Seventeen years later, in 1979, the owner of the local gas station was checking the level of fuel in his underground tank. When he brought the stick back out, it seemed warm, so he lowered a thermometer into the tank. To his shock, the thermometer read 77.8 degrees Celsius (172 degrees Fahrenheit). The underground coal seam fire had quietly spread from the dump six miles away and was now under the town of Centralia. Soon people started reporting health problems due to the high levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the air. In 1981, when twelve year old Todd Domboski almost fell into a four foot wide by 150 foot deep sinkhole that opened up in his backyard, the state was forced to act. Residents were given buyout offers and, within a very short time, Centralia became a ghost town. The town that once boasted several thousand residents has only nine today.
The story of Centralia is a good reminder for us: Deal with things quickly! Sin often lives in the unseen, “underground” part of our lives. Left unattended, those underground sins can cause huge problems.
The truth is that, “Our secrets are our steering wheel”. If we allow unrighteous things to lurk below the surface, if we constantly say, “Well that does not really matter”, those thoughts and those attitudes will eventually take us somewhere that we do not want to be.
The fire under Centralia has been burning for forty-seven years and experts believe that it will burn for at least another 250 years. The time to stop the fire was before it got going.
The same is true spiritually. It is always best to bring our sins out in the open and deal with them as quickly as possible. Leaving them “underground” and hoping they will just go away almost never works.
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).
Then in May of 1962, everything changed. One story states that the town wanted to clean up the local landfill, so they hired five fire fighters so go set the dump on fire. Unfortunately, the fire not only burned the garbage, but also a coal seam that ran under the dump. Whether the fire fighter were unable to deal with the coal fire, or whether they thought it would just burn itself out is unclear. What became clear, though, was that the fire was going to be heard form again.
Seventeen years later, in 1979, the owner of the local gas station was checking the level of fuel in his underground tank. When he brought the stick back out, it seemed warm, so he lowered a thermometer into the tank. To his shock, the thermometer read 77.8 degrees Celsius (172 degrees Fahrenheit). The underground coal seam fire had quietly spread from the dump six miles away and was now under the town of Centralia. Soon people started reporting health problems due to the high levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the air. In 1981, when twelve year old Todd Domboski almost fell into a four foot wide by 150 foot deep sinkhole that opened up in his backyard, the state was forced to act. Residents were given buyout offers and, within a very short time, Centralia became a ghost town. The town that once boasted several thousand residents has only nine today.
The story of Centralia is a good reminder for us: Deal with things quickly! Sin often lives in the unseen, “underground” part of our lives. Left unattended, those underground sins can cause huge problems.
The truth is that, “Our secrets are our steering wheel”. If we allow unrighteous things to lurk below the surface, if we constantly say, “Well that does not really matter”, those thoughts and those attitudes will eventually take us somewhere that we do not want to be.
The fire under Centralia has been burning for forty-seven years and experts believe that it will burn for at least another 250 years. The time to stop the fire was before it got going.
The same is true spiritually. It is always best to bring our sins out in the open and deal with them as quickly as possible. Leaving them “underground” and hoping they will just go away almost never works.
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).
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