Turn On The Lights

From this week's church bulletin insert: It spoke to me.

Darkness is a breeding ground of fear. When we are in the dark, we can't see anyone or anything. We feel panicky, helpless, isolated, vulnerable, lost, confused, frightened. Most of all, what we feel is alone. Darkness isolates us; it disorients us and causes us to exaggerate and distort reality. The disciples were desperate in their boat. They were overcome with panic and confusion. The darkness made Jesus hard to see.

In C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the Dawn Treader has sailed into Dark Island and everyone on the boat is terrified (much like the disciples in their boat were), except for a lone courageous mouse named Reepicheept. At one point in their journey, when it looks as though they'll never get out of Dark Island, Lucy, one of the visitors to Narnia, whispers "Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now." Lewis writes, "The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little-a very, very little-better." Almost immediately one of the crew spots a tiny speck of light ahead, which, again, "did not alter the surrounding darkness but did light up the ship." Notice that the darkness did not diminish. God does not always rid us of the darkness; He joins us in the darkness. Michael Yaconelli (Dangerous Wonder)