A Deer In The Headlights

When my kids were little we were so poor that we lived in HUD housing, a government charity place which was regularly inspected for safety, order and cleanliness by a HUD official.

To prepare for an inspection, the girls erupted in a frenzy of cleaning and straightening their rooms.

Not little Donald — he’d simply unscrew all the light bulbs in his room!

Earlier this week I enjoyed lunch with a preacher friend who is active in Alcoholics Anonymous. The preacher told me about a young man addicted to drink and drugs, who came to him terrified. This young man had done something terrible and when he realized what he’d done, felt horrified at his own actions.

“He looked like a deer caught in the headlights,” the preacher said.

Yesterday as I washed dishes before Ginny got home, I remembered how Donald would “clean” his room, and the phrase the preacher used, and a Bible verse about light.

The Bible says that Jesus is, “The true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world”.

I’ve never thought about that verse much. On the surface it seemed to me as though it meant that every baby born brings a little divine spark, a light that can be fanned to flame — or flicker out.

If the True Light lightens every man that comes into the world, then we can all be like one of those Thomas Kincade paintings, snug little homes glowing with light and warmth.

Or maybe, this Scripture can be read to indicate that every person everywhere at some point or another in their lives, catch a glimpse of Divine Light and have a chance to accept Christ and be saved. I even thought the fact that the True Light lightens everybody might hint at some sort of universal salvation for all.

Giving it more thought, I believe I was wrong about this.

The Bible also says that “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil”.

I often pray for light in dark situations (And yes, even with all the stuff I’ve written about my family recently, I’m still struggling with depression myself. But with all the crap that’s been going on, I just haven’t had time to indulge it much)…

But in praying for light, just what is it that we pray for?

To be glow-in-the-dark Christians?

My friend’s choice of phrase to describe the man’s terror “Like a deer in the headlights” reminds me of another aspect of Light.

Light reveals things we’d rather not have revealed.

Say you’re parked in Lover’s Lane with the car windows steamed up and the cop taps on the roof and shines that six-cell flashlight into the window blinding you. (Voice of experience speaking here, Kiddies)

We’d all like to be in the spotlight when we’re onstage performing… but say you’re hanging 30 feet above the ground on knotted bed-sheets dangling over the prison wall when the spotlight hits you.

Say, you’re elbow deep in the safe clutching the diamonds when the homeowner turns on the light and levels his shotgun…

Jesus is the True Light that spotlights every person in the world.

In the brightness of His presence everyone of us is caught in the act. I am revealed for just what I am — a deer caught in the headlights.

What hope is there for me now?

I can’t even see God because His light shines in my face. I stand condemned, blinded by light.

How can anyone escape the intense shining glory of God?

Isn’t it all hopeless?

There’s a certain masquerading angel of light who’d like us to think that.

“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,” St. Paul said, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel pf Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them”.

Yes, light exposes things we’d rather keep hidden, but Light also reveals a way out of the darkness, the glorious gospel that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, that He died for us, and that He rose from death because He is the Prince of Life.

That’s the good news!

Or, as Paul words it, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.

Yes, we are hopelessly lost walking along this world’s Interstate highway to hell, but that light bearing down on us is not an 18-wheeler — it is the light of the Rescuer searching to bring us safely home.

“To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.

But what about the darkness?

Walking away from the Light, the darkness is cast by your own shadow.

So, don’t be afraid.

It’s ok.

The more we are exposed, the more He is revealed….

OH! Goody. It’s 4:57 a.m. and the mousetrap just snapped in the kitchen. I think I got one!

I’ll stop writing now.