For Christmas one year I got a B-B gun.  I loved it… opened the upstairs window and started shooting at everything that I thought was “shootable.”   Of course my parents said “be careful” – RIGHT!  After a bit, I kinda ran out of things to shoot at and I spotted a street light in front of the house… it was too tempting… I destroyed it.  Jesus forgave me – my Dad did not.  He reported me!   Funny thing!  I never saw that gun again.  My Dad never said a thing about it but it was gone.  The other thing that was dumb is that I didn’t like the dark… now every night it was dark in front of our house.

Were you ever afraid of the dark?  I was when I was younger.  When Mary and I moved to Fenton we got a whole house Generator so that we would always have power.  I like it!   I’m not big on being a pioneer. Darkness... I’m not a fan!  Darkness has a quality that we humans instinctively dislike.  In Scripture it represents evil itself.   We’re promised that in the world to come we will have no need for the sun because Jesus, “the Light of the World,” will provide the light and “it will never be night there.” (Revelations 21:23–25)   But what about today?  What about the darkness that’s pervading our world right now?  The confusion - the anger and inner rage - political gridlock - disrespect for law and order - religious persecution.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming.  We live in a society that loves to call good evil and evil good.  And then there’s what David famously called “the valley of the shadow of death.” (Psalm 23:4 ESV)  Your own death or the loss of a loved one.  WOW!

Into this dark world of confusion and death comes a God who is Pure Light. Psalm 139:12 says; “Even the darkness is not dark to You.  The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.”  This is the hope we have.  As followers of Christ - who is the Light of the World - we have been made “children of Ligh.t” (John 12:35-36)  United to Christ, we too are light in this dark world. (Matthew 5:14; John 8:12)  Whatever may await us in the unknown of the future cannot defeat us.  Christ is risen!
We walk in resurrected light!  Martin Luther’s hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress’ encourages us.

“The Prince of Darkness, grim, we tremble not for him.
The body he may kill, God’s truth abideth still.
One little Word shall fell him.”

Walk in the LIGHT

Tom