Good morning folks.

Thanks for your prayers, kind words, and support since my last post. You guys are definitely helping us to Fight On!  Quick update:  thank the Lord, we were able to reconvene treatment on Monday. It was another long day due to snags with the drug companies but all parties came to a good resolution. Eager to get home, we jumped in the car at 4pm (CST) and headed home. I’m thankful I put new tires on Kim’s car, because she burned some serious tread on the highway! I called her Mommio Andretti.

We got home around 10pm Monday night. It was SO great to hug and kiss the kids and then collapse into our own beds. Now I’m just trying to put back on the weight, being careful about what I eat. No more yogurt-covered raisins for me!

As we settle back into a normal routine, after the family cleared the house this morning, Cooper (dog) and I had a quiet time together. As my personal Bible reading system would have it, I’m currently in Numbers, Proverbs, and Luke. As I read the first chapter of Luke, it was basically repetitive stanzas of a representative from each tribe of Israel bringing their offerings to the tabernacle. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if anything profound might speak to me this morning.

As I was skimming along through the monotony of Numbers, I came to verses 8:1-3 (NLT translation): “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Give Aaron the following instructions: When you set up the seven lamps in the lampstand, place them so their light shines forward in front of the lampstand.’  So Aaron did this. He set up the seven lamps so they reflected their light forward, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. The entire lampstand, from its base to its decorative blossoms, was made of beaten gold. It was built according to the exact design the Lord had shown Moses.”

I stopped there and re-read it a few times, picturing the scene. When people would enter the room, their eyes would be captured by the light first not the golden beauty of the carefully designed lampstand. In the back of my mind, I sensed a deeper message behind this but I didn’t give thought to it at that point.

But then I casually came to Luke 8, again just as the next chapter in my daily reading scheme. Jesus says in Luke 8:16-18: “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.”

Boom.

Of course, frequent Bible readers will know this as the ‘Parable of the Lamp’.

Reading these passages on the same morning:  Coincidence? Sign?

Understand, we can’t place too much significance on “coincidences” like these but neither should we place none. For me, and now I pass on to you, these passages remind me that I’ve been given a gift of Faith in Jesus, and, rather than hide it from the world, keeping it private, it should shine forth such that it is literally the first thing people notice about me when they see me, a light inside that is life-giving to others, although they might only initially discern something different.

I’m not suggesting overbearing, awkward, and discomfiting behavior– this is always perceived as insincerity and turns people away. I’m talking about an intentional concern for others we meet in our normal routines where we simply take notice of them, greet them warmly, listen attentively, and offer our service, if needed. Like the decorative lamps, we are humbled by the power of this light within us. Christ, who first humbled himself on the cross so that he might be the light for the world, in His love serves us in a like manner, particularly as we make time with Him in Word and prayer part of our normal routines. 🙂

God bless.

Brent