I know I said that I was taking a break from writing, but something happened that I had to write about.  I talked to Shaun and he agreed that I had to write this one.  Before I get started, I do want to invite any and all to come and visit our little church group that we have started at Jocassee Valley Brewing Company.  We are changing the time to 10 am this Sunday so it will have a little more time to get warm.  Without further ado . . .

Mad World

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  – John 1:5

My daughter asked me this past weekend if I would take her to Mad World.  I had no idea what it was, so I Googled it.  It is a haunted house in Piedmont.  It looked like a good one, and by good one I mean that it actually looked really scary.  I ignored her.  That didn’t work.  I tried to kick the can down the road and push for doing it later . . . didn’t work.  I reluctantly agreed to take her.  My wife told me, “If you’re going to take her, you need to change your attitude.”  I wanted to say something smart back . . . but I had nothing.

It was on.  I flipped the switch and was going to have a fun evening with my daughter.  When we got in line, the monsters walking around were pretty dang scary.  I saw a former student of mine who had already done it.  I asked him if it was bad.  He said, “Yes!”  This was the first time I kind of got worried.  I could see that my daughter’s excitement turned into apprehension.  I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be out sixty dollars.  

Because there were only two of us, we had to go with another group.  It turned out to be a family.  They had a little girl with them.  I was wondering why the heck they would bring her, but then noticed that she had a flashing light necklace on.  They called it a “No Scare Medallion.”  I found out that if you bought one of these for five dollars, then the monsters inside would be cool to you.

As we walked through, it was pretty scary.  There was one point where we got behind the family we were with and it got really scary.  We caught back up and it was way more tolerable.  We went through all the rooms and finally, about 40 minutes later, we were finished. 

Riding home, my daughter was talking about how fun it was, but that if she did it again, she’d want one of those light necklaces.  That got me thinking.  I told her, “You know, there is a great sermon in what we just did.”  She said, “What?”  I said, “How different was the walk if you had a light as opposed to not having one?”  Immediately, she understood where I was going.  She said, “Daddy, you have to preach that one!”

Death and fear of the unknown is a scary thing that we all have to deal with.  Fortunately, for all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, there is a light for our path, and a lamp for our feet.  He makes everything much less scary.  He makes evil have to back off from us and treat us better than it wants to treat us.  I don’t even want to think about navigating this world without Him.  Just being in the group with that little girl brandishing that light made the walk so different.  

Jesus, thank you for making my journey through this life so much better.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Amen.