Assembly of God

By Sheryl Franco

Co-pastor

As a child, I had the great blessing of belonging to a family who packed up the camper or RV in the summer and took extended road trips, visiting the well-known National Monuments, National Parks, and lesserknown campgrounds along the way. We gathered at the park ranger’s nightly campfire lecture and shouted “Let the fire fall” in Yosemite and rolled down the dunes at White Sands.We visited the “Mystery Spot” and experienced our vehicle rolling uphill and ate our share of pecan logs from Stuckey’s. Our family would always attend the Sunday morning worship service in the campground, conducted outdoors, in the majestic beauty of God’s creation.

Like every family who has spent the night in a California campground, we have our bear stories. Anyone who has camped with little ones knows that the strongest urges to visit the rest rooms are experienced when the night is the blackest and you have to walk several hundred feet to get there. So, you pick up the flashlight, put on the sweatshirts, take the little one’s hand, pretend you’re not afraid of the dark and the critters, and off you go.

It was on such an excursion, with the dim circle of illumination from the flashlight pointed at our feet, that my mother and I heard something rustling around off to the left of our path in the clump of pines and trash bins.

We hurried along toward the light of the building down the path in front of us. Then, we had to return along the same path to the safety of our campsite. Again, same clump of trees, same shadows, same rustling, bumping and thumping noises. We strained our eyes to see what was in there and could only distinguish vague movement from something large. We scurried along, keeping that little circle of light from the flashlight just ahead of our feet so we wouldn’t be delayed by tripping and falling or turning down the wrong road. We made it back–a little breathless from the pace we walked–but safe. And we had a little adventure story to tell.

When you’re walking in the dark, you must keep the light shining on the path just ahead of you. If you point the light way out ahead of you or off to the sides, sweeping the forest for bears, you’re more likely to trip on something right at your feet, missing the danger right in front of you. If you focus on taking one step at a time, you’ll likely get to your destination safely.

In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.” Follow Jesus. Put him right in front of you. His light leads to life. You don’t have to fear what you can’t see. Is it a bear, or is it just a shadow? The big spiritual lesson I’ve learned is that shadows can’t hurt me. And if it is a “bear,” if it is my own sickness, the sickness of a spouse or child, a broken relationship, financial insecurity or whatever I fear most, the best way to survive it is to follow Jesus, one step at a time, in the light of his word that is right in front of me.

Pastor Chuck Franco continues his series, “The Promises of God” this week with the promise that when we follow Jesus, we never walk in darkness. What a comfort to know we don’t have to navigate the perils around us alone.