HARVEST TIME

 I can remember the cold crunchy leaves below my feet as I walked along a pathway with a flashlight in hand dressed as my favorite hero or cowboy of the day on a Halloweens night.  It seemed like everything that moved in the dark around us was somehow more menacing and scary than at any other time in life, but at the same time, we somehow knew we were safe.  We were scared by everything and afraid of nothing in those days because we had that tie to the beam of light from the flashlight that always broke the darkness away and revealed the truth.  It was usually my dog following me or my older brother trying to scare me that was quickly revealed to my 7-year-old mind.

  Those days are now long past and the same trust in the faith and care for a child's safety has long gone cold and dead.  The dangers have become very real from all of the dark places of this world and it seems as though the light from our small flashlight reveals more than we dare to look at these days.    We live in a different time and place than ever before in our history as a nation, but perhaps not in our history as mankind.  I am pretty sure that we have pushed our existence as the human race to the edge before this and have found ways to mock God and hate each other so much as to cause our own destruction before God has wiped us clean from our own memory.  There are many signs that we as humans have had great knowledge and abilities in the past civilizations of people to create a reason for God to have to step in to contain us because we have stepped away from Him.


  Today I look upon the spooky things of this world without the gleam of fun and laughter in my eyes, but with the real fear of what is hiding just outside the reach of the light that would reveal the truth. While it is a sad thing that we can no longer depend upon the general nature of mankind to protect the innocent and the young in our culture we do still have the beacon of God's truth that reveals a much stronger beam than the normal light we carry spiritually.  It is that light of truth found in God's word which shares the real truth about what happens in the dark around us.  Even though we may not want to know what is there we are still required to look at what is revealed there for our own safety as well as the protection of our loved ones.  We cannot ignore what we see when the light is cast upon it, and we can no longer find strength enough within ourselves to battle it alone.  It is only in the combination of our light shining together with the light of God's word to compare truth from a lie that we have any chance of victory in the future.

  I still like to dress up and play pretend, but I fear that there are many today who are no longer pretending but are seriously trying to hasten the darkness forward. Harvest time means many things to different people today, but for the Christian, it is a time for preparing to reap the good grain and cast the weeds to be burned in the fire.  Please be careful this year, and stay safe within the arms and the light of God's promises to us.

  We can tell all of the ghost stories and have fun in dressing up, but let us never stray away from the light of God's word or the principals He has given us to love and protect those around us in a time of need.  May you richly bless God through your life in Him.



THE UNWORTHY SERVANT