How's Your Light Switch?

I remember the first day of my freshman year in college with a grin & a bit of a sigh. Yes, it was one of those days…full of excitement & nervousness…with a pinch of clumsiness on my part. Okay, okay, here’s how it went down.

Student IDs were a requirement. You needed them to check out library books, prove you were in fact you, & sell back outrageously priced textbooks to the bookstore for a meager profit at the end of the year (by the way, personally, I highly recommend amazon.com or some other online source for your books). I decided I would be oh-so-on-top-of-things & get mine the first day. After all, it was the first day of school & I looked first day of school cute after careful clothing consideration. I headed to the student center where the ID office was located on the top floor. I let out a small groan when I saw a line snaking out of the office. It was a small groan because the line wasn’t too long, but long enough to be groan-worthy. I staked my place in the back. Finally making it just inside the office, having crept at a snail’s pace, I lean my back against the wall. Suddenly the lights go out. A small moment of chaos & one student’s ID photo likely coming out completely black followed…& then groan of groans (internally), I learn I was leaning against the light switch.

Sometimes, it’s like that. You learn you’ve been leaning against the light switch. I tried to laugh it off, but I was glad when I had my ID in hand & could flee. This makes me think of the light of Jesus we are supposed to be shining as Christians, His children. Having gone to public school & a secular college, I know the mission field that these places are. Students are hungry to find something to fill their voids. Many have already tried lots & lots of things that have left them just as empty or, in some cases, even emptier. As you head back to school this year, are you preparing to keep that switch turned to the ‘on’ position…even when it makes you stand out…lose friends…be laughed at? It’s not always easy to keep the switch on & your light shining. Sometimes, like me, you don’t even realize you’ve been leaning on the switch & sitting in the darkness. Remember Jesus on the cross & how that was in no way easy – having Your creations, Your children, turn upon You in a murderous mob. They have no idea as they hurl their insults & use their tools of cruelty, that the One they are subjecting all this to, is in fact paving a path for them to everlasting life. Now, when you are about to flip the switch & hide in the darkness, remember that the One who died on the cross is living in you & will not leave you. Your strength will not be enough, but His is, & Christ in you is the power source of your Light. Don’t turn it off, abandoning your power source, seeking to hide in the darkness ashamed & hurting. Just think, that person who walks around with a black ID photo, full of lonely & longing voids & scars, could be looking around for a bit of light. Will your light be turned on?

Love & Light by the Bus Load,

-Bess-

P.S.: Yes, this is a true story.