Biggar Bonfire

I spent Hogmanay this year with Helen, who lives in Biggar with her family. The Biggar Bonfire is a long-running annual event and it was fantastic to finally find out what all the fuss is about! The fire is huge, and the main road is closed off to allow for the celebrations to take place. Nearby buildings had their windows boarded up and fire blankets were draped over hedges. We had to be careful of the embers that were raining down once they were out of the updraft of the smoke plume, and later I discovered one had landed on my hat and singed the wool!

This photo makes me think of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three Israelites who were captured and thrown into a fiery furnace in Babylon for refusing to worship the King. They could be seen walking in the fire, miraculously unharmed, and a fourth man with them - considered to be God himself - before they were released and the King realised it was God who truly deserves to be worshiped.

In some ways I feel like I've been put through the fire this year, and I'm not out of it yet. But God himself walks with me, and he's bringing me into the new year with hope burning like a fire within me!