Face the Light

Pouring rain kept my windshield wipers busy while I squinted at the dark roads. Such weather magnifies the fact that those white lines off to the right have faded to almost invisible.

In driver's ed, they taught us when an oncoming car's headlights blind you, focus on the white line on the right to stay in your lane, until they pass. When those lines have faded, you're left with fewer options.

You can't close your eyes and drive. (Well, not for long, anyway. :)

You can't stare directly at the lights, or you'll be seeing spots.

If there is no car ahead of you in your lane, you can't focus on their taillights and trust they can see better than you can.

So, what's a driver to do?

I am very sensitive to light, even in day to day life. For example, if I am facing a window and trying to read something in front of me, I have to squint to make it out. It's the same effect of a camera trying to capture a backlit image. The light throws it off.

So, on a dark road, with headlights blinding me, I have a very difficult time driving.

But I found one thing which worked recently though it seems counter-intuitive. Facing the light. Not looking directly into the lights of those oncoming cars, but facing the lights. The headlights of the other cars illuminated the road ahead and my cars' lights helped and suddenly, it wasn't so difficult to see.

In our walks with God, sometimes we want to avoid the light of the truth. We'd rather hide than face shame.

But God calls us out into the light--His light, so we can see the truth and let the truth set us free.

When God shines His light, He isn't meaning to shame us. He is trying to free us.

We just need courage to face the light.