There is a novel entitled Fire!, in which the author describes the birth and spread of a forest fire that had swept through 10,000 acres of giant pine trees in just a few days.
As the story opens, a thunderstorm was raging in the Ponderosa National Forest. At the height of the storm, lightning struck a tall pin tree whose roots penetrated a vein of underground moisture. Within a few seconds, the tree became tense with electrical pressure and pieces of the charged bark were thrown through the air. At the base of the tree, the discharge ran along a buttress-root at the surface of the ground and heated some dry needles to kindling point. In the evening a thin column of smoke, rose faintly into the air.
The fire barely lived through the night, for a chill descended upon the mountains, and the fire cooled until only a few glowing spots remained. During the first five days of its life, the fire came close to dying several times, but a pinecone or a dry twig gave fresh life to the cooling embers. It was not until the 6th day that the fire grew to noticeable size.
But once the fire grew strong enough to sustain itself it needed only some favorable wind of circumstance to enable it to sweep throughout the forest. Such a moment came, and the fire fighters were unable to conquer the fire until it had devoured 10,000 acres of pine trees.
As I read the account of this fire, I was impressed with the similarity between it and the record of what takes place in the birth and development of the religious life.