That's Lit! (As the Kids Say)

Sunset, August 25, 2021, looking north, panorama view

As a kid, do you remember hearing the three chimes at the beginning of an NBC television program: "Ding, ding, dong ... The following program is brought to you in Living Color on N B C"? If you were a child of the 1960s, I'm guessing those tones went off in your head in perfect pitch as you read that phrase.

I didn't hear the three familiar tones as I glanced out my kitchen window, but the gold-tinged clouds did prompt me to throw on a pair of tennis shoes and drive down the road for an unobstructed view.

Sunset, August 24, 2021, looking west

I'm used to looking west for my sunset shots. In fact, the night before, Randy called me from the tractor where he was spending yet another evening discing. "I think it's going to be a good sunset," he told me. He rarely steers me wrong, so I made the drive to the corner south that evening.

Sunset, August 24, 2021, looking west

But my kitchen window is toward the north. So I wasn't expecting the sunset show to appear there. And, yet, it did.

I wish I'd passed by a few minutes earlier, since the sun was sinking fast and the reflection on the storm clouds was about to fade by the time I made my way outside. But it was still worth the trip.

Sunset, August 25, 2021, looking north

It was kind of like Gomer used to say on the Andy Griffith Show, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" (Speaking of old-time television. And that show was on CBS for the record.)

Image from Closer Weekly

That fading light in yet another of God's natural masterpieces viewed from the Kansas plains had me thinking again about the power of light. 

Before school started in August, I ordered "Jesus is the Light and the Way" flashlights for the worship committee at church to hand out to students and school staff for a Blessing of the Backpacks segment in our morning worship.

In 2015, our former pastor Ben Hanne wrote about light. I'm not sure whether it was in a pastor's column for the newsletter or what, but I saved it at the time because I liked it so much. (I did get his permission to print it here:)

From a technical standpoint, visible light is all about energy.  Click on your favorite flashlight (you do have a favorite, don’t you?) and you’ve ignited a source of energy that illuminates your surroundings as photons bounce off everything in its path as long as you have it turned on. Cool, huh? Light banishes shadows, clarifies our perception and can even generate sensation. (Think about the warm light of a fireplace versus the chill light of a walk-in cooler.)

The first chapter of the Gospel of John declares Jesus to be our true light, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Thinking in technical terms, it suggests to me that God sending us the light of Christ is a lot more like a flashlight than a one-time gift.  God’s love and power continues to radiate towards us every day, it banishes the shadows of our fears and clarifies our perceptions.  The light of God remains firmly pointed at you, sending the gift of Christ continually.

May you walk in the true light of Jesus Christ, allowing it to illuminate every corner of your experiences.  In that light there is hope, energy and salvation - forever and always - as a gift from God who is…

Ben Hanne (former Stafford UMC pastor, now at Hillsboro UMC)

Here's praying I see the Light of Christ in nature and the people around me ... even on those challenging days when it seems the flashlight is firmly in the off position.

Some days, that's easier said than done, I know. Yesterday, we made the 8-hour trip home from Des Moines, where - as president - I was representing Kansas at the National Master Farm Homemaker convention. We got home to the air-conditioner not working, the hired man not working and a shattered window in the door of our loader tractor. "Welcome home to us!" I texted our kids.

But you know what? We had gotten safely to our destination and back. We had a good time while there. Our small town business responded last night and got us cool again. (We need a new AC, but that's another story. I was just glad to have the house cool again for now. Thanks, Meyer Electric!) Randy was able to go directly from carrying things in from the car to an evening session (and then morning session) on the tractor. And Case can get a door in four days ... Well, we'll see about that on a holiday weekend, but at least one is supposedly available in a time when parts can be hard to come by. 

There's always Light to be seen ... if only I look for it. May the Light illumine me ... no matter what.