Knowing the way

John 8:12, 14, “Again therefore, Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not be in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” “Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true; for I know where I come from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” When storms come and you lose power, you often go look for a flashlight or candles to light up the darkness. The power may be out for a few moments or for several hours. The light from the flashlight or candle offers a brief moment of relief. I remember one summer going to a cave in Utah. It was a tourist attraction. We had to walk down a steep set of stone stairs. At the bottom was a beautiful area filled with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The stairway down was lit with lanterns, in order for you to see. Once the group was all in the area admiring the beauty of the hanging stalactites, the tour guide told us that without the lights of the lanterns the darkness of the cave would cause us to become confused, and our minds would not remember the way out or the beauty we were witnessing. He then told us he would demonstrate the depth of the darkness. He asked everyone to take one look around us and as we did all the lanterns went out. You were pitched into total darkness. Your sense of direction was immediately gone. When we started down into the cave he mentioned that it was important to remember how many steps there were to the bottom of the cave. This he told us at the top of the tour. The way down led us into many rooms and turns and when the lanterns all went out, I couldn’t remember the turns we took or how many steps I had taken. You couldn’t see anything. Not who stood beside you or even your hand in front of your face. I stood very still waiting for the lanterns to come back on. It seemed like a long time but was really only a couple of minutes. But at each passing minute, I was trying to remember the turns we took, the path we had taken to get here. This passage of scripture reminds me of the relief I felt when the lanterns came back on. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not be in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Without the light of life, just as without the lanterns, even for just a couple of minutes of darkness in that cave, I want to always have the light to get out.