The family likes to congregate at my parents house. We like hanging out downstairs with lawn chairs while the labs (all five when we are together) can run around the yard. Usually they just park themselves at our feet. The warmer it would get, the more the bugs would find us so my parents decided to add a patio. The patio is perfect. We sit. We drink coffee and tea. We laugh and play games.
To add to this spot they hung a string of lanterns. They are just right. Just enough light. Daffy's favorite spot is to lay in the yard underneath the lights.
We often forget the importance of the Light. We have heard the Biblical illustrations but we often go about our days just trying to get the chores done and the work day behind us. We pray, we live, we worship. We pray that God helps us through this rough patch or for better things ahead. We pray for health and safety.
And then that day comes when you get that phone call, that someone you care about is very ill, that it is possible they may not see another day. And you know they don't believe. Then.....you remember the importance of the Light. The Light shows us the way in darkness. We take for granted the very reason we call ourselves believers, we call ourselves Christians. It is the Gospel Message. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to earth, lived a sinless life, died and rose again for US. That God IS REAL, and knowing that there is a real God-- His message is real and He desires you.
We are all lost in sin. We are all short of God. But He has made a way and it is the Light....it is His Son Jesus Christ. Suddenly this message was even more critical to me. More critical for me to share.
I prayed the whole way to the hospital. I don't want to shove the door open on my own. When I arrived he was alone. We chatted, this and that and then I stood beside his bed and I ask him....Have you been thinking about God? I know you haven't really believed in God. And he tells me, well no it isn't that but I can't wrap my head around it. So I said you have always been a man of common sense, and well it just isn't common sense. That is why it is called faith. I tear up and I tell him, I wouldn't be a real friend if I didn't share it with you. I call him by name and tell him, you need God, you need Jesus Christ. So he thinks about it some more, and I pray on it some more.
God has given us the liberty to make our own decision about Him. To believe or not believe. It is your choice.
"In whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." II Corinthians 4:4
It is no surprise God refers to His message as the LIGHT. When you know Him.....you understand it. How it can over take the night, what power a little bit of light can have in darkness.
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