Just before Dawn

Always darkest just before dawn. We were out on the forward deck before 4 am; the moon shone but the focus was the approaching skyline of New York City. Perhaps the camera shook a bit with my shivering, but there was no way I was going back inside. I stood on deck with Don, poised for the gradual revealing of this iconic sight.

The Queen Mary 2 (CCR’s ‘Proud Mary’ going through my head – I guess that dates me!) ploughed ahead through the still waters of the Atlantic. We’d been told a pilot would come aboard but we didn’t see that transaction. But good to know that a local expert would guide us through the waters so that we would sail up the channel that is wide and deep enough for this huge vessel – and also that we would navigate safely beneath the Verrazano Bridge, which we cleared by a mere four metres or so.

Life can be dark and treacherous. Good to know that God has given us a pilot, his Holy Spirit, who comes on board to guide us through the darkness. Sometimes when things are rough we do just want to hide away, scarcely able to believe that it will ever get better. But if we can stand the shivering, it’s good to have our eyes on the horizon, watching for those first lights which herald a new dawn, a new day. 

Praying for all those affected by the Manchester bombing. Praying they will be able to hold on for the light that still burns bright and beckons us onward. Praying that out of this atrocity will come new shoots of love, blessings of peace.

God is good. Even in the darkness, he is with us, guiding us forward into the light.

Hanging out in the Son

The sunnier the day, the dirtier the windows look. 

Of course they are dirty on the dark days, too, but the dirt isn’t so noticeable. 

The more I hang out with Jesus, the more obvious the dirt in me is. But equally, the more I hang out with him, the more I allow him to wash it away and fill me with his Holy Spirit. I’m getting cleaned up, one spot at a time.

There is nothing quite like a day in the Son.

Black Holes as Light Sources

Still thinking about that programme on quasars. Black holes which suck in matter and yet emit the brightest light anywhere in the universe.

I was thinking about Christians. If we are living as we are called to live, close to God, then we should have an effect on all which surrounds us. Perhaps sometimes we even might absorb things such as offenses and sins against us, forgiving them and the purity of that action emitting an incredible light.

I am remembering people who have had much to forgive. The father in Eniskillen whose 21 year old daughter was buried in a bomb blast alongside him. He lived, she died. His first words in an interview later were that he forgave her killers. He absorbed the hate and returned a bright shining light.

I think of all the stories I read recently in Desmond Tutu’s book, stories of victims forgiving horrendous crimes committed against them or their loved ones. Absorbing the violence, emitting the light.

Quasars seem to be unique, eating whatever matter strays into their gravity and burping out intense and enormous light.

Christians are also unique. I don’t know how easy it is to be a quasar (!), but to live such a forgiving Christian life is not easy nor always the norm, but should be the aim of us all.

With the help of Jesus.