Last night at village (Resonate’s small group) I realized something:
Many of the students I spend time with don’t have the best family life. So… Christmas was a stress. Holiday gatherings were drama, and the last three weeks have been anything but energizing and refreshing and hopeful. It’s reminded them of where they used to be. It’s reminded them of what they never want to go back to. It’s no fun to sleep on a couch for three weeks because your bedroom was turned into storage space.
Being home, for some, felt like darkness.
Many of the students I spend time with had the most amazing December of their life. God was evident, direction was clear, holiness was pursued and the Gospel was central. Three people from my village were baptized on December 11th with 20 of their friends. It was a special time.
Being here, for some, felt like light.
It’s hard to move so quickly from light to darkness.
It’s not good for the eyes, or the soul.
All this reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend Ed Newton a few weeks ago. We were in a restaurant called Tokyo Soul, Ed was eating a California roll, my buddy Drew was eating a live squid, or something exotic like that, and I was eating chicken and rice with a fork and a lots of soy sauce. I hate sushi. I love soy sauce.
Anyhow, I was talking to my friend Ed Newton about how sometimes it’s hard to go home. How the light and dark are a collision of culture. How God’s call is so clear sometimes and so muffled other times. Ed listened intently, Drew ordered more squid.
Ed wiped his mouth and told me he and his wife have these same conversations. Then he told me, “Every time I’m wrestling with God’s calling or with my darkness my wife Stephanie tells me “Never forget in the darkness what God told you in the light.”
Ed Newton said the most powerful piece of advice he’s received when it came to following the call on his life was: “Never forget in the darkness what God told you in the light.”
As many of us are getting into a New Year routine may we do so with the ever standing foundational truth of what God has spoken to us. Even if the last few weeks have been a blur of food and frustration, come back to the light, back to the last words spoken to you.
God’s faithfulness and promises are still there—even when it’s dark—remind yourself of that. I’m thankful Ed Newton reminded me.