![]() ![]() ![]() I don’t have to wait for the inner storm to be stilled before God can minister through me. Christ is hiding there, waiting to teach me there. I don’t have to run from my own bouts with depression and dark nights of the soul. Christ is hiding there, waiting for me there. This is good news! This means I don’t have to fear the darkness inside. What if I’ve been missing Christ’s life changing light and presence by looking for him in the wrong places? Have I been seeking Him in mountaintop moments of ministry success? Have I been looking for Him in my most illuminating sermons and writings? Have I been seeking His presence when the boat is steady and the waters are calm? “The light shines in the darkness.” Descend into the depths of the earth with a pickaxe and a desperate soul, and start mining for God. If you want an encounter with the Lantern of Life, don’t go watch the sunrise. The spirit of the age says, “The light shines on those skipping about in the noonday light, happy and satisfied and self-sufficient.” The Spirit of Truth reminds me, “The light shines in the darkness.” Darkness is where Christ’s loving presence and warm glow is most at home. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Matt 16:23). My soul protests: “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. The Accuser tells me I’m moving away from God, I’m not fit for ministry, I’m broken and should call it quits. When I find myself revisiting the valley of the shadow of death and making mental mud pies in the pit, the mind of my “flesh” tells me I’m in Enemy territory. We marvel as we read, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” But for many of us, much of the time, we must admit that, “In me is death and this death casts a gloomy shadow over my interactions with mankind.” Oh, how I want to be filled with more of the light of Christ, and have that light flood out all the darkness that lingers like a thick fog on a cloudy day. His life-light also exposed things we’d rather keep hidden in the dark-though not to shame us, but to liberate us from these secret inner Tyrants. His presence lit up a room and his words warmed many shivering souls still hiding under the covers. Jesus radiated a quality of life that was as bright and warm as the afternoon sun. The one leads you to rise up with a smile while the other makes you want to pull the covers over your head and go back to sleep. Compare the experience of waking up on a Saturday morning in mid-July with rays of sunshine piercing the blinds and birds singing cheerfully with waking up in mid-January to a darkened room and bitter cold frost coating your window. We’re all seeking a quality of life that is full of light-bright and shiny, happy and airy. Instead of finding “warm fuzzies” at the end of a spiritual rainbow, I have found myself descending a spiral staircase into the depths of my own soul. Instead of basking in the glow of Christ’s light, I have found myself stumbling into darkness and depression. This has not been the case at all for me the past few summers. ![]() I enter this time envisioning times of joyful intimacy with Jesus, endless hours reading Scripture and other spiritual books, and then writing out of the overflow of these inspired moments basking in the presence of Christ’s light. THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT” (JOHN 1:4-5).Įach July I unplug from the regular tasks and routines of church ministry, and spend a couple weeks of family vacation and another couple weeks of spiritual retreat and contemplation. It is a middle finger to the darkness.“IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND THAT LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF ALL MANKIND. If you do some losing or you walk with someone else in their defeat, live with dignity and grace. Remind them what’s true and invite them to do the same when you forget. Make friends and make sure they know they matter. Be so brave as to raise a hand for help when you need it. Take time here to encourage people and lift them up.” - Bernice King “Shining a light on someone else doesn’t diminish mine. "A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." - Steve Martin “There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.” - Leonard Cohen “A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.” - Thomas Jefferson ![]() “Just as one candle lights another and can light thousands of other candles, so one heart illuminates another heart and can illuminate thousands of other hearts” - Leo Tolstoy ![]()
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