Skip to main content

December in the city: reflecting on light.

The cold had me cycling quickly through the city this evening coming back from a lovely meeting with a dear friend at the “Brecht café” (interestingly named after the German author “Bertolt Brecht” whose literature I was studying and analyzing when I did German in school, many many years ago).  Yet, even though I was trying to get inside as quickly as possible, I still took in the many amazing light features popping up around the city in preparation for the festival of lights. It is beautiful. Massive chandeliers made up of many little lights along the wide roads, and different creative uses of lights on buildings, really makes the city illuminated (literally). As I crossed the Dam square, the Christmas tree was also up and alight.

I started thinking about the film I watched in the cinema today, “The Butler”. It was a great film, not really about light per se, more about USA and their racial history, but a quote at the start of the film stood out to me and remains with me. Martin Luther King once said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.” The Bible talks about light coming into darkness, and the darkness not overcoming it. And so I was starting to think about that, and how it is so easy to get discouraged by all the darkness that seems to be taking over the earth. All the bad things that are happening, and not even counting the natural disasters, but the things  done by people to other people. And yet, in the midst of seeing such deep darkness, there is hope, and the hope is in the Light who is Jesus. And so there is a choice- I can either let darkness overwhelm me or I can choose to walk gazing on Jesus who is the light that can drive out darkness.

And then I was thinking about darkness not so much with regards to evil, but related to hard times in life; to the “the valleys of the shadow of death” times .  And I was reminded by an email I got today about how Job (to say his life was hard is an understatement) declared: “By His light I walked through darkness!”

I want to hold on to this revelation of the power of Light to drive out not only the darkness  in the world, but also lead me through dark times in my own life. And as I do, I desire to bring this same  hope to those who can’t see it yet in their lives and situations.

Popular posts from this blog

Preparing for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the 17th of May. But for any Norwegian, this particular date isn't like any other date in the year, it's the 4th of July of Norway. And this year I am actually here. However, some preparations had to be done to get ready for tomorrow. One was getting my national costume down from the loft. I got it a few days ago and tried it on. It's a wee bit tight, but I think it'll be fine. This evening I ironed (or rather started ironing) the blouse which is hand embroydered and made of linnen (so those of you who have a clue about fabrics, know that linnen is the opposite of no-crease material). And the second part of the preparation was polishing the silver. I tried the "foil-in-hot-water-with-salt" method, but I don't think it worked too well. I did a bit of polishing with toothpaste after that and it looks alright. At the end of the day I'm the only one who will notice the level of polishedness of my silver. I have also got my camera on charging re...
Read more

On the move again...

As I walked wheeling the trolley containing two suitcases and a rucksack (belonging to my middle brother who has bought himself a new one) I felt tears stinging in my eyes and threatening to push their way out. I suddenly felt so very small and the airport so very big. I’d got off my 45 minute flight from Sola to Oslo, got my bags from the baggage claim (the airline I flew with lets you decide how many bags of luggage you want to take against a small fee, and so I was able to bring not one suitcase weighing 20 kilos, but a suitcase and a rucksack), bought my train ticket for the last leg of my journey, and was walking along in search of a cup of coffee and a waffle to kill the half hour till the train. Walking along I caught myself thinking about this new stage in life. I wondered why this move up to the YWAM base here in Norway seemed so huge, when moving to Brazil obviously was a bigger move, at least further away. And then it occurred to me that when I’d been travelling back and for...
Read more

My heart is full

I sat waiting for the train while drinking chocolate milk and eating what we call solbolle for lunch (which is a large cinnamon roll with custard in the middle). My heart was overflowing with gratitude and love, and such a deep sense of fellowship and “family”. I’d spent the morning drinking coffee at my old job at Crux , catching up with all the amazing people that make that fellowship and sense of togetherness what it is. Since many are fully vaccinated I got to give and receive quite a few good hugs. Hugs that communicate so much more than one can put into words. It was strange being back after 4.5 months, and yet it felt so very normal. Conversations on deeper levels, sharing victories and joys, and putting into words the good we see in each other, filled my heart until there was simply no more room. Waiting for the train it felt like my heart was overflowing. My new job is great. I love the team I work with, enjoy the challenges, and feel humbled by the privilege of being invited...
Read more