TGIF
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””
(John 8:12 ESV)
““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
(Matthew 5:14 ESV)
My ashtray is full and I’ve already had too much coffee.
Too many stories are grappling with each other inside me, all disconnected, but connected somehow by a thin crimson line.
They say they need to install more lights at the intersection as it gets very dark there…darker than the dark in other parts of the city.
There was barely enough light to snap a picture of the child’s shoes that flew off his feet on impact, now laying unoccupied forever on the road.
They snapped a picture of his skateboard too, but it was still very dark.
Very dark.
It was an accident…perhaps if there had been more light…
The child was barely a year older than my own child.
I recognized the boys name, then went on Facebook and confirmed that they have skated together.
That’s all they did together as they lived in different worlds.
There was little light in the one the other child lived in.
His friends all have pictures of things dark and sexual and their selfies reflect those attitudes.
They are children.
Their eyes are already as empty as those who lived far longer without light in other generations.
They are children.
They do not know how to mourn because they have been denied the kind of love that enables grief.
They are children.
It’s dark there.
We should install more light.
The problem as always, is defining who we are, defining who they are, and seeing what the light budget can handle.
We greatly prefer lighting that we can install over lighting that must be carried and held.
Perhaps we will just wait for the darkness to come to us.
It will take a few years, but it will arrive.
For some, it’s here already.
Make your own application…
Michael, in another time in this world, yours would have been the column in the morning newspaper that we turned to first as we slurped our first cup of coffee… some of those fellas wrote books… i have a couple because they remind me of the world that i lived my life in… praying for your writing to be published to remind the Church of the world we’re living in now … and perhaps in denial of?
God keep
Em,
Thank you…very much.
I’m shaken this morning…but I think I’m supposed to be.
That hurts with a pain that will never go away in this lifetime!
She was 15 and borrowed her brother’s motorized gas skateboard without asking.
It was a hot summer evening so she wanted to just hop down to the corner store and get an ice cream cone before he noticed his skate board was gone.
The car flew around around the corner and did not see her.
The next car didn’t see the girl laying on the ground nor the first car because it had fled the scene quickly.
It ran over her like the first car did and fled also.
The third car stopped after it had run over the girl.
All down the block from my place while her brother was flirting with the next door neighbors daughter.
The news came to us all to quickly.
The corner was all too dark…
Hopefully the pain will go away.
Michael…very profound. And yes, I agree 100% with Em’s comment. Keep writing….
Powerful, Michael. I see the same darkness in many of the kids on FB, and some we encounter in real life.
Praying for you, for Trey…for those in that community. For our own awareness and hearts that have the desire and strength to reach out.
Michael & Surfer 51- Thank you for sharing your hearts regarding these heartbreaking situations. Poignant reminders for me to -“Be kind. Everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden”… of one sort or another. Some so heavy that if we could see the burdens, we would be astonished they remain upright at all.