Driving at night theses days I am amazed at all the different configuration of headlamps coming at me. All different shapes, numbers and sizes; different colors, some blueish, some with bunches of mini lights,even green or red, so what’s up with all this and does any of it really work any better than ‘Old Red’s’ good old halogen beams? Maybe you can tell by my picture above that I’m being sarcastic as Solomon noted, “There is nothing new under the sun”, not even light or perhaps especially light and the spiritual or as Lady Julianna of Norwich would say the”ghostly” is even more fascinating but first the practicality of good headlights.
I am guessing automotive engineers lay awake at night thinking of how to see better down the road at night. There are so many complex issues that disturb them; heat, brightness, reflection in weather, blinding other drivers, (the lasers might take the prize there). So the battle rages and the good news is that we all get the benefit, even us older car drivers because now they make conversion kits to get us the latest technology.
One of the coolest thing now offered in Europe not legal in the U.S. is ‘Adaptive LED’ lamps Consumer Reports tested them and was impressed. These babies used the many lights of little LED’s (light emitting diodes) with a computer throw out the maxim light based on your current driving situation. The future looks bright, don’t you think…..or perhaps it looks dark from your perspective. I’ve Got Good News there as well, perhaps the best. The Darker it gets the easier it is to see the light, allow me to illustrate with a story.
Years ago I was deer hunting in early January a freezing cold day. So cold I couldn’t stand it, so I decided to give up on hunting for a little while and partake of the sausage balls my wife had packed for me. I had just gotten the first one in my mouth, when out in the clearing in front of me jumped the biggest buck I had ever seen. I grabbed my rifle and fired, the buck staggered, jumped back up I fired again and he ran in the wood a little bit and laid down. That’s when I made a rookie hunting mistake and decided he must be dead and climbed down after him. I know you hunters reading this could already tell me what would transpire for the next few hours.
The deer would jump up and I would go after him and then he would jump up and the cycle went on until the trail ran out and I could no longer hear the deer and after about three hours of this I had totally lost any track or sign what so ever and after getting down on my hands and knees and looking for another couple of hours in concentric circles, I suddenly realized I was way back in the forest and had no idea where I was or which way back to the truck. It was about two o’clock and I had about three hours of daylight before it would get unbearably cold. Panic started to invade my mind when I remembered I had my cell phone.
I called the friend who had set up the deer lease who had hunted there for years. He asked if I could climb up any hill to get a look and see if I could see a line of pine trees. I saw a hill a little ways off and told him I would call him back when I was on top of it. So I climbed the hill and called him back. He then asked if I could see a definite line of pine trees separate from the hard woods. I could see it clearly. He went on to explain that the area had been logged a few years ago and if I would make my way down to that line of pines and keep the pines on my right and the hard wood on my left I would come out back at the road. “Great plan”, I thought and off I went sure that I was going to be fine.
A little more challenging than I thought, as that line took me through many a briar patch, ditch, pond you name it. Undaunted on and on I treaded till the sun crept down and down. Soaking wet and scratched, bruised and battered from head to foot the unthinkable happened. The line ran out and not at the road.
Now it was really starting to get dark and soaking wet this was not looking good for the home team. That’s when the thing I had feared became my friend, “The darkness”. You see as the darkness set in I could see a light way off in the distance through the woods. The darker it got, the clearer I could see it. I made my way falling over roots and ditches but the path was obvious, simply make your way towards the light.
Sure enough that light was a house and that house was on the road, although another four miles back to my truck once it was dark enough to see the light the path was clear.
Volumes and volumes could be written on just what the Bible and faith has to say about light… But for now let’s consider these.
John 1:1-4 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Lady Julianna of Norwich “Thus I saw and understood that our faith is our light, in our night, which light is God our endless day.”
In my view every image bearer of God has a unique light that reflects God’s glory, when Jesus comes into your heart it begins to shine. This is a spectacle of Angelic proportions, as the story below illustrates, but first let me share that when you love another person as Victor Hugo stated you see the face of God, that light that you see in that other person is God’s Glory and drawing that out in another to be ‘that light’ is so much of what I value in my life.
I have a dear brother, Adam Draper who has ghostly vision, he sees things I can’t yet and it’s not really uncommon for him to see angels and he told me this story which I hold near and dear to my heart.
He was at church and he shared the Holy Spirit was really present that Sunday when he looked up and saw a huge number of angels, (perhaps the great cloud of witnesses). The way he described it was really cool, he said they were like a bunch of minnows when you toss a piece of bread in the water and they would all gather tightly together and a great flash of light would appear, then they would scurry over to another place, the Flash, and then the would scurry all over to witness another flash. This went on for a time and he asked Jesus what was going on. ‘This blows me away’, Jesus told him that there are certain aspects of God that can only be seen in men and when that occurs the Angels come running to see it.
Perhaps a reference to 1 Peter 1:12 ” It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
You may find Adam’s story very strange but I say it reinforces a Biblical truth: John 1:4 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…..
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