October 12, 2007
Traveling outside the country is an exercise in anxiety for me. I am by no means a “frequent international flyer”, so on the occasions when I have traveled abroad, I have found my prayer life accelerating exponentially (especially when I’ve headed into unknown airports with procedures that I have suspected differ greatly from other airports in which I’ve been).
Traveling by car has had its own quirks as well. When in West Africa a few years ago, I and my partner were going by van out into remote villages to encourage and train “bush pastors” (pastors, usually with little or no formal training who are responsible for Christian believers far from urbanized settlements). As we left “civilization” far behind us, the sun was shining, and we found ourselves driving on rough “roads” that threw up such clouds of dust that we were literally red from head to toe. Trying to breathe through handkerchiefs, we sat in the back of the van, tossed back and forth as our Ghanean driver (tried) to dodge the tree limbs and gulleys that unexpectedly crossed our paths.
Eventually, the hours of daylight ran out and it got dark. As the last of the sun’s ambience melted into shadow, the depth of the darkness grew and grew until we were quite literally surrounded by what seemed to be absolute black. That in itself wasn’t necessarily a new experience for me. In rural Ohio, we have country roads that go for miles without any flicker of light to be found, allowing the stars in the sky above to shine down uninhibitedly. As we drove on that particular night in Africa, however, the canopy of trees and vines so thickly surrounded us most of the time that we generally couldn’t see the sky. Even so, the big difference that God began to open to me is that in Ohio, where there are people, there is almost invariably light. A porch light, a street or security light, a light in a window, a headlight, a flashlight, and so on, are almost always present whenever people are present. Where there are people, there is light. Not so in the undeveloped territories of Ghana and Togo.
What was really experientially strange for me (although I knew it prior to my experience of it), was that we would be riding along in nearly complete darkness (save for the headlights of our vehicle) when suddenly we’d find ourselves driving through whole groups of people walking along the trail with no light among them at all. On one occasion, the driver stopped and we all got out to stretch our legs while he confirmed that we were traveling towards the place we wanted to go. As I stood there, listening to the voices in the darkness around us, I gradually became aware that we were actually standing in a village of mud huts, their forms hardly to be seen in the shadows all around us. And then, an hour later we came to another village, only this one had some real buildings, one even with a light on as we drove by. I even found a man who had Diet Coke to sell (I bought one to wash down all the dust I’d been eating for the seven or eight hours prior).
The point is that I consider that perhaps I have taken the blessing of light a bit for granted. My thanks to the professionals who work tirelessly even in harsh elements here in Ohio to help us keep the lights on. Our friends in Africa don’t live in darkness by choice; there simply hasn’t been the economic development there to make it happen in many places. I assume that it is because there have been too few incentives to make it happen (perhaps financial gain will become less an incentive for others and compassion for others more of one). In the meantime, darkness is what many people who live there are accustomed to though they hunger for more.
Spiritually speaking, the parallels are enormous for folks in our world today. On the one hand, many of us who “have the light” (the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) take it for granted, underestimating the power of that light to illuminate our own paths in life today. On the other hand, many do not have “the light” and walk in the darkness of despair, fear, and bondage to sin.
If we look with spiritual eyes, however, we will find that there are far more people striding up and down the highways and byways of daily routine, lost in darkness, than we could ever have imagined. We who have come to Christ Jesus, placing our faith in Him and receiving His gift of salvation, must remember that this light to which we’ve been called (the light of God’s love) is not merely for our benefit, but for God’s glory and for extending into the lives of others who hitherto walk still in darkness.
“In (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (or overcome it)…. The true light that gives light to every man… He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him…. To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:4-5, 9a, 10-13 NIV).
There are two things that we must do with this light which has been entrusted to us. The first is simply to walk in the light. “If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7 NIV).
The second is to share the light. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9 NIV).
Let us each who then say we love God, simply strive to live in His light and to share His light with others that they may no longer walk in darkness but have fellowship with us in the wonderful illumination of His love!
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16 NIV).
(Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past twelve years. He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church, which meets on Sunday mornings at 455 Third Avenue. He may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).
