Furnace Fixed!

For the relatively small portion of planet earth that has been concerned about Donna and me since yesterday's post - please relax; our furnace was fixed this (Sunday) afternoon.

Seems as though the problem was a simple one - our "igniter" (pictured at left) had gone bad and needed replacing. Thanks to the good folks at Reliable Heating and Air, warm air is flowing again in our main level and the long johns have come off. They didn't even charge extra to come out on a Sunday!

What is an igniter you ask? The igniter in your furnace looks like a filament from an incandescent light bulb on steroids. It is wired to the furnace and glows red hot when the furnace is on. All it takes is for the thermostat to click on, causing natural gas to flow across the hot igniter and, voila! you have heat! If the furnace senses there is a problem with your igniter, no gas ever comes out and the furnace fails to fulfill its purpose, which is to heat your home.

There are parallels in our spiritual lives. You see, every believer has a spiritual igniter in his or her life; it's called passion. Passion is the spiritual equivalent of an igniter. Without passion, fuel for your spiritual fire won't flow and there will be no warmth, no "heat," no "fire" in your faith or in the message you are trying to convey.

The lesson? Keep your furnace working - make sure your igniter is working well at all times. Amp up your passion. Show a little emotion. The alternative is dangerous, or even deadly.