light switch

I recall the first time I was able to reach a light switch in my granddaddy, B’s, woodshed. Growing up, my stature in height was a bit shorter than the “average” 8 year old yet my girth warranted the wearing of the husky jeans with iron clad knee pads straight from the Winnie the Pooh section of Sears.

It was one of those light switches that was not on a wall, but the type that when you walked in the room there was a string hanging down from the fixture that held the bare light bulb in place. The weathered, tattered sweat-stained string would be connected to the short metal portion of the switch that with one tug in a downward motion would bring light into the dark. Growing up I didn’t care much for walking into a room before it was lit. My typical way of entering a dark room, housed with “who knows whats” under the bed would be to stand outside the door with eyes partially open-ok, closed!- and reach inside the room to feel for the light switch on the wall that my portly self could reach. Up goes the switch and like cock roaches in a dilapidated kitchen on skid row, the “who knows whats and whos” under the bed would be gone. LIGHT!

So when B would ask me to go to the woodshed to find a something or another for him, that meant walking into the room before it was lit. It meant walking into a room that was dark 24/7 without the help of the 65 watt light bulb and the unreachable string that now maybe with a few jumps I could reach it…. and man oh man it had to be the place where the “who knew whats” went when the light was turned on in the bedroom I just left.  They had to go somewhere and I just knew they hid out here, this was their safe place, their refuge, their compound, this is where they came to plot on how to scare the heebiegeebies out of ya when the attempts to turn the light switch on failed.

Ever felt this way in our faith? There is this light switch in our souls that is turned on in faith, yet I believe at times we tug on it again to turn it off or we just aren’t sure that it’s on so we keep tugging on the string and we turn it off and on to the point that it’s like a strobe light on 80’s night dance floor. What is it that keeps us tugging on the string? How do we stay secure in knowing the light is on? It’s ALL JESUS! You see, pulling the string is like us saying or calling on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. Acts 2:21 NLT 21 But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’ And then there is this guarantee that  2Cr 5:5 NLT 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. Which is the motor – the engine – within us that helps us keep our hands off the string, the string that no matter what the circumstances are in our lives gives us the ability to walk in the room full of the “who knows whats” knowing that the LIGHT of Christ has stripped them of any power they “think” they have. [Col 2:10, 14-15 NLT] 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. … 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. 

He CUT the STRING…IT IS FINISHED! (John 19:30)….the LIGHT IS ON!

Oh yes….my leaping ability that day going to the woodshed to fetch the something another for B was Olympic. The vertical leap would have out-jumped LeBron James at center court starting a basketball game, as I jumped for the string and about pulled it out of the ceiling that day bringing light into the dark. I’m thankful I no longer have to jump for the light as Jesus in me is the light and HE has conquered the dark with HIS resurrection, therefore, the who know what’s have no power over me and you as we beLIeVE!

love em up!