BLACKOUT
 
I never realized quite how much we depend on light until last night.  I had gone to sleep around 11:15 p.m. and at 12:00 I woke up wondering why it was suddenly much warmer in my bedroom.  Looking around, I noticed that it was pitch black and even my alarm clock didn't shed its ever-so-slight bit of light into my room.  I started to wonder if I was really awake, and after awhile I finally came to my senses and knew that the power had just gone out.  Not only in my apartment, but it was out in the entire town of Lincoln and even in towns nearby!  Even the street lights were out, so the city was a dark, dark place.  When the next car went past and its headlights spread a brief little light, I made my way to find my cell phone.  With its small light, I found my candle lighter and lit a candle in my room.  I carried that to the kitchen and sat to look out the window into the dark black night.  It was so spooky!  The cars on the street were the only source of light!  One car drove past, and stopped in the road below my apartment, rolled down their window, and I think said "hello?" once or twice.  Terrified and spooked as I was, I definitely didn't respond, b/c I had no idea what was going on.  So what next?  I just froze and sat there probably looking a little like a ghost in the window but oh well.  That's when I didn't want to be living by myself in my apartment. 
 
I went back to my room and sat there in the candlelight wondering "God, is there something you want to teach me through this?"  All I came up w/ was the reiteration of several places in Scripture that refer to Jesus as the light and us as the light of the world.  Seeing how black it was w/o any light last night it was scary to think how dark this world could possibly be!  Dang, we've got a job to do!  (hm...do i risk the cheesiness factor by imagining Kathy Troccoli's old tune "Go Light Your World" that we all heard at graduation one time or another?  I think NOT!) Anyways, though it was quite terrifying by myself last night in the city-wide blackout, I realized its parallel to ministry.  It was a God thing that I woke up last night during that blackout, just like it was a God thing that I woke up from who I used to be and decided I wanted to do ministry of some kind for the rest of my life!  Yeah, it's still scary sometimes by myself, but hey--"this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine!"   OK, that's enough for today...