the light

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8.12

This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,

who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43.16-19


My meanderings in thought:

So i was reading George Macdonald's 'The Princess and the Goblin' last night, trying to finish it, which i still didn't do but whatever.
And so i'm at the part where the Princess rescues Curdie from the Goblins.
And well, first off, she has no idea what she's doing.
She's simply following the (magic) thread of her benevolent great great great grandmother. At first it takes her out into the country side just before dawn. and as she follows along she gets to see the land wake up into the light of the day, and she's all very excited for getting to see these things for the first time, and then across the rolling hills and meadows and finally out into the fullness of the bright light of early morning.
But then the tread leads her to the caves. A dark small entrance. It looks ominous and scary but he princess keeps going. after a few turns inside the caves all the light of the new day has been swallowed up. There is no other way for her now, she follows the thread because she trusts its ways are good and true - and thats all she needs, and she keeps going. Of course, eventually it leads her to the imprisoned Curdie and she digs him out. But she never knew the ends of her travels. She only knew the path to follow - only the very next step.

And of course, i knew some of what George MacDonald was hinting at with this part of the story but, I made the rest of the connection this morning, with Mel's sermon expounding off of Jesus' "I am the light of the world..."

Yes i know, reading George Macdonald fairy tales is kinda like reading CS Lewis stories.
But its still interesting to watch our 8 year old princess go with such faith into such darkness.

How easy it is for us to follow God through all the good parts of life - and then run and hide when we're asked to go into the darkness, with only Him as a guide. It seems to always be in those dark places that people need our help. Even if they be simply the dark times in our life.


...God seems to always have a way.


(its amazing to stop and look back and think - how is this even possible!?)