They began with a modest goal, and then their collective experiment and experience just went to another place for this pair and the musical endeavor that they and their friends spawned. They were all from Houston, Texas (see the flag of Houston here), and what Darrin Sasser and Jason Harrison and some of the others said with lyrics may have grown from something they had found in the pages of a bible. They would not have needed to study too many times to find someone who said “Start a Fire”, either physically or metaphorically – perhaps it was actually God from whom they derived this inspiration. Maybe it was something about the way Abraham was supposed to offer Isaac (Genesis 22), or was it the way that Moses first encountered God (Exodus 3), or jumping ahead many centuries, was it the way the Apostles were equipped for their mission to the world after Jesus ascended (Acts 2)? In all these, some fire was God’s method for communicating or carrying out His purpose for those following Him. Want to be with God, or involved in His plan? Get ready with the fire. That seemed to be what Jason and Darrin saw.
Jason and Darrin haven’t shared specifically what inspired the fire about which they wrote, but one can make an educated guess at what happened generally around the end of the 20th Century (in or about 1998-99) in Houston. They were a group of guys who wanted to help advance a bible study, especially for teenagers and college age young adults, with the music that they offered to provide. It wasn’t just for a few months, but for six years that this effort endured, offering these fellows, who eventually named their group Among Thorns, the opportunity to hone their skills and really capture a vision for something broader. Their own group’s name and the ‘Start a Fire’ song they wrote could have emerged from the pages of one or more of those study times. Many fires in scripture (as already mentioned) could have been the focus of what they read and discussed together. As for the name they chose for themselves – Among Thorns – we’d really have to quiz them to see exactly what they were thinking, but could it have been an allusion to the parable in which Jesus spoke about His word being sown, and unfortunately choked, among thorns (Matthew 13)? One could imagine a group of young people trying to live for God, and yet finding so many daily urgencies and distractions that challenged their aspirations. Their group’s biography mentions that they felt God had been preparing them for ministry in music in those six years, but Darrin indicated that none of them had really thought initially about worship ministry as a calling. Their desires had to change so that they could become His tools. Perhaps some other things had to be burned away in a fire, even some thorns that they and the bible study group had discussed, before that purpose toward which they felt God was directing them could be realized. Some of their lyrics say ‘burn away the dross’, and so one can hear their thoughts emerge from the music they wrote, and as they considered their group’s name.
Fire is a dangerous thing. Just read all of the 430 ways that the word occurs in the bible’s pages (in the English Standard Version), and it’s just part of fire’s nature that it was used to destroy or frighten or capture the attention of people that God wanted to direct. So, starting one is not usually part of a casual attitude, although one might be started in order to provide warmth and so that food can be cooked. Jesus’s cousin John the Baptizer said he was preaching in order to usher in the One who would baptize with fire (Matthew 3:11). We can be reasonably sure that Jason and Darrin were thinking of a fire that ushers in a new way, and not one just to make them feel comfortable and well-fed. Sometimes things need to be upended, so that a better, fresher growth can begin; a forest fire is like that oftentimes. God is like that, as Darrin noted in his own thoughts about Among Thorns and their purpose – that He was ‘cut(ting) and prun(ing)’ during those six years of a bible study that Darrin, Jason, and their friends helped facilitate. Six years might seem like a lengthy time for trimming, but is it really? Moses went through a period like that for decades. And so might you and I, if we’ll let Him.
See a profile of the group Among Thorns Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday
This site indicates the year of the album (1998) on which the song appears, and the group (Among Thorns) that sang it: Among Thorns - Start A Fire lyrics | Musixmatch
Some biographic information on the group: Among Thorns Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | Discogs
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