Residents of the state of Washington are no strangers to wildfires. However, even veterans of the fire-ridden west can become too comfortable with the blazes. Officials in Chelan County, WA report that even as one of the most vicious wildfires of the summer bore down on homes and businesses in Chelan, hundreds of local residents refused to seek safety. "We thought it was a little fire," said homeowner Norma Cervantes, who had ignored evacuation orders for the area. "[But] it started spreading and spreading and the wind got faster and faster …" What had begun only three days earlier as a seemingly insignificant flame had escalated to a raging, life-threatening conflagration, and those who remained behind like Cervantes found their boldness vanishing. "I don't know what was going through my mind," she said afterwards.

Possible Preaching Angle:

How similar is the result when we downplay the threat of sin in our lives. What initially seems like a harmless desire or thought can and will spread until it eventually consumes everything in its path.