In the Midst of Darkness

The light in the midst of darkness On the icy roads of a Northwestern Ohio winter a car slides across the median and hits the front of a semi-truck traveling in the opposite direction and the existence of two teenagers is extinguished and the opportunity to share their life dreams are gone; a seemingly innocent night of celebrating the completion of exams ends in the emergency room of a local hospital as the college student dies of alcohol poisoning; volunteer firefighters watch helplessly in the below-zero temperatures as the inferno they are to fight grows and the house is lost into a pile of blackened concrete and debris as the water freezes before it touches the flames – despair threatens and the darkness seems enveloping.

An assembly line worker losses her job to the relocation of the plant to another country; the embers of a marriage die – hearts harden and darkness looms ever closer and encompassing. Where is the light of the world now? Where are you God? Where is the promise of life through Jesus Christ?

I hurt and the tempo of the world continues seemingly untouched by my hurt. Where do I find comfort and healing when comfort and healing seem remote and impossible to ever attain again? Amid this despair; amid this despondency and hopelessness; among the myriad situations of darkness, the light remains bright and defined for me.

For is in these times when the light of the world and the promises of the cross are made real for me. Amid the devastation of lost lives, of lost relationships, and of lost hope, there remains the hope and promise that in my times of heart-retching hurt, I can turn to a Christ who bore my sins and the sins of the world so that there is light and life for the teenagers lost on the road; the college student lost in the emergency room; and so there is hope for the marriage that needs renewal; for those looking for employment; and the firefighters who will fight future fires.

In the midst of darkness God offers us the healing power of the resurrection of His son who bore all of the darkness and all of the hopelessness on the cross so that we might have light amid the times of darkness in our lives.