Scripture

~John 1:4-5, NLT

Quote

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. Such is the power of light.

~Francis of Assisi

John was a fisherman until he met Jesus who transformed him into a preacher, teacher and theologian. John’s gospel is different from the other gospels. John was a mystic and he spoke in symbols. Jesus taught by parables; these earthly stories conveyed heavenly truth. John picked up on this approach to teaching truth. God created the natural or the physical just as He did the supernatural or the metaphysical. There is a visible world and there is an invisible world and Jesus created both. Never get the idea that Satan created anything. He had nothing to do with creation. He has no power to create. The only thing he can create is a mess. The natural world that we see with out eyes is not evil. John countered the false teaching of the Gnostics who taught that matter was evil.

The first metaphor from the natural world that John uses is light: Jesus is the light of the world. I am absolutely amazed at the truth taught in this one metaphor. Let me give you some examples:

1. LIGHT is substance. Light is real, it is made up of particles. Darkness is simply the absence of light but darkness has no chemical substance. Therefore, it cannot exist in the presence of light. Darkness has absolutely no power over LIGHT. Jesus is substance, He is real no matter how you feel.
2. LIGHT cannot be contaminated. Light cannot be corrupted in any form. A dead cow in a creek will contaminate the water and the air but the dead carcass cannot touch the light. The light can touch the carcass but not vice versa. No such thing as impure light. Jesus is holy. He is perfectly pure just like sunlight.
3. LIGHT is the only constant in the universe. Everything else is in a state of change. Everything else suffers from the law of thermodynamics but not light. Einstein believed that the only observable and scientific constant in the universe was the speed of light and no one has proven him wrong. Jesus never changes, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
4. LIGHT heals. The best thing you can do for a cut or wound is expose it to the sun. We get only 25 percent of the Vitamin D we need from our diet, the rest comes from sunlight. Jesus is the Great Physician.
5. LIGHT sustains life. Every living thing in creation depends on light. Plants cannot make it without light and we can’t survive without plants. This process is called photosynthesis. Green plants absorb light energy using chlorophyll in their leaves. They use it to react carbon dioxide with water to make a sugar called glucose. The glucose is used in respiration, or converted into starch and stored. Oxygen is produced as a by-product and we have to have oxygen. Jesus is our LIFE. He is the source of life.
6. LIGHT illuminates. Light enables us to overcome the darkness. David said, “The LORD is my light and my salvation.” Jesus is the light that shows us the way. He is the light of the entire world.

I think there are a couple more but I could remember only these six. The point is–LIFE is in the SON, just as in our solar system, life is in the sun. Where is the sun in our system? If you said the CENTER, you would be correct. Everything gets life from the sun and everything revolves around the sun. I suppose we could make it without Pluto or even Saturn. We could surely make with a few million less stars in the outer galaxies. It may be possible for us to survive without so many moons, so long as we don’t lose the one orbiting earth but we here on earth have only eight minutes to live if the sun stops producing light. We cannot make it without the sun. I sure you get the point, JESUS is not an option, He is a necessity. If you want to live, you better put your faith in HIM.

Reminds me of the little girl saying here bedtime prayer. Everyone in the house had been sick and so she prayed–“God bless mommy and daddy and my brother and my sister and help us to get well. And one other thing dear God, don’t you get sick; if You do, we will all be in trouble.” Don’t worry about the sun not shinning or God getting sick just put your faith in Jesus the eternal unchanging Savior.

• The rain had plastered my corn to the ground but it is coming back up. PTL, we got some lose ends tied up yesterday but not all. We got the VBS props put together and the clover sprayed, again [spots where I missed the first time] but we had a malfunction in the small spray rig I use for the walking track. We did spray the nut grass with the hand sprayer. I did not know that made anything to kill nut grass but it is called Sedge-Hammer and you can get it at Co-op but it is more expensive than Roundup.
• I got a little mixed up yesterday; for some reason, I thought it was Friday. When Cory reminded me that it was only Thursday, I was elated. Maybe I’m not as far behind as I thought.

Connecticut Yankee

A northerner was headed to be beach and he drove through that small town just south of Montgomery that has a traffic camera. When he drove by, he saw the camera flash but he knew he was not speeding so he circled the block and drove by a second but slower. To his dismay, the camera flashed a second time. This really ticked him off so he circles the block again but slower. The camera flashed. He did this five times before he gave up and drove on down to Florida. When he got back to Connecticut, he had five tickets in the mail waiting on him. All five were $180 per for not wearing a seat belt. Folks, there is no way to fix stupid.