A Fit Spirit Exercise

Every month I write a short “Spiritual Fitness Exercise”  message that I distribute to a few of the churches that help sponsor Public Safety Ministries.  Those churches usually publish the message in their monthly newsletters. I often receive positive comments on those messages so I thought I’d start sharing them here on our website as well…

“Ahhh… and there’s the Light”

“It’s getting dark.”  No, this isn’t a metaphor created for this message.  It really is getting dark out there. This is the time of year when daylight decreases and the darkness we face increases.  And how do we respond to the darkness?  We turn on our lights.  Why?  So that we can see.  Simple.

During my past seven years as a police chaplain, I have spent hundreds of hours with police, fire and EMS professionals as they face the challenges of their jobs.  From our time together I have found a constant theme among those who are experiencing challenges in their lives:  darkness and loneliness.  (Okay, so I guess we are heading for a metaphor here…) My job with these people is simple: “I share light with those who are alone in the dark.”

My job isn’t to tell people where to find their light source, nor is it to give them my light source.  My job is to simply walk with those who are alone in the dark, sharing the light I carry, so that they can find their own light.  It’s much like having a neighbor who is alone at home, in a storm, in the dark, whose power goes out and they loose their light.  The neighbor probably has a flashlight (but the batteries are dead and they can’t find the spares), or a lantern (but they can’t find it in the dark mess in the basement), or even a cell phone with a flashlight app (that they left in the car that the kid took to work). The light we all need to survive is there, our personal light is there, but sometimes we just can’t find it.  We need our neighbor with a light to help us see where it is.

So as these days of darkness come upon us, do an inventory of your light sources. Take some time this holiday season to get together with family, friends and neighbors to share some light.  And take the time to experience the joy in hearing someone (or even yourself) say “Ahhh… and there’s the Light!”

Take Care, Pastor Dan