Coffee and the Storm at Sea . . .

We took a cruise on the Caribbean back in June.

Beautiful place that Caribbean with its sparkling blue water.

Sailing out there with nothing else in sight for as far as the eye could see . . .

It was so peaceful, so serene, and so relaxing.

Yes, there we were, without a care in the world . . .

And the food, my goodness there was more food than you could imagine . . .

You could pretty much eat anytime day or night, which was great having the kids along with us, because any time they were hungry they could go get something to eat.

As for me, it meant fresh coffee whenever I wanted it.

There was one particular night that comes to mind on that cruise.

It was late, sometime after midnight, I got a cup of coffee and sat out on the deck.

Peering out into the darkness, absolute darkness . . .

Looking out toward the horizon you couldn’t really tell where the sky ended and where the ocean began . . .

It was pitch black, but then I noticed an electrical storm way out at sea . . .

The lightning danced across the sky, illuminating everything.

I have always been fascinated by lightning storms because of what we read in Matthew 24:20,

“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

And this particular lightning storm was the most spectacular one I have ever seen.

As I sat there sipping my coffee, in awe of the display the Lord had set before me . .

I thought about how incredible this storm off in the distance was . . .

How the sky would illuminate and then in a split second turn back to pitch black . . .

And I thought about how it was the deep darkness that made the light show so spectacular.

It takes a deep darkness, such as I witnessed that night, to truly appreciate the light.

A deep darkness like that which we lived in before we came to see the Light . . .

Before we came to see the one True Light.

Jesus came into this world and said in John 9:5 :

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

And now our challenge is to let the Light that shines within us guide others out of the darkness they stumble around in.

as it is written in Phillipians 2:15:

“ That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

And in Ephesians 5:8;

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:”

Just a thought over coffee!

Durango