Sunday Stories, July 15, 2018

Years ago, newly married, Keith and I spent many weekends at his parents place in rural Arkansas. With a shop full of tools and a garden full of food, it was great to lay our heads upon pillows, enjoy the restful sleep of children and put aside the worries of adulting, though there were some adjustments for me. I grew up in town where every street corner had a lamp and porch lights stayed on when twilight descended. With an address miles off the pavement, the Rooney’s had a night light, but its switch was in the breaker box and when it was time to turn in, doors were closed, lights went off and total blackout occurred. 

I questioned this state and was told I and my belongings were safer in darkness. An intruder did not know the way without light, but we each had an internal navigating system that would steer us through.  Car keys were always dropped in the floorboard, vehicle doors left unlocked. They were insured and not worth dying for if someone came looking to steal.  However, everything else was locked up.  It must have been a good plan because the biggest crime spree was cold sodas gone missing from the springhouse on hot summer days.

Until……

Very late one night Keith sat up in bed and told me to stay still as he quietly crept out into the blackness of the front yard.  Moments later he returned, threw on his clothes and told me to dial the county sheriff. The neighbor had been robbed, and he went flying down the road to see if he could find where the criminals had gone.

The neighbor’s farmhouse was empty most of the time because its resident lived in a nearby city and only checked on things when needed.  The sound of a motor idling at an unusually late hour awoke and alerted Keith to danger. In the yard he had walked his whole life he hid and watched as a metal chain was cut and a trailer with equipment was quickly hitched and pulled away.  He gave chase as the law headed our way.

Keith described the make, model and year of the thief’s truck. It had unmatched tires with questionable thread. He named the brand and size, because years earlier he had learned such things at his father’s knee.  A puddle of fluid told of a leaking transmission that wouldn’t travel much further. And….the local teenagers, that gathered in the evenings at the Texaco station, knew their community’s night noises and recounted the twists and turns of the robbers’ flight, pointing directly to where they heard the motor stop. As if written for a Hollywood film script, the crippled truck, loaded with other’s belongings, was found beside the road and soon the mystery of a multi-county theft ring was solved.

Earth’s darkness, was not Keith’s. His knowledge was a lamp for his feet. Shadows were not stumbling blocks, but the picture he needed to understand and find his way. He was aware of the threats and the havens to be found with or with out sunshine.

God’s light does not come and go. There is no switch, only a choice. Walk in the Sonshine, store it in your heart and mind and darkness will never be a threat.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Psalm 119:105

Blessings,

Gretchen