I watched part of the NHL game on New Year's Day just to see how the game was going. I'm not a fan of either team that played, but the game was of interest to me because it was played outdoors (it was only the second game in NHL history to be played outdoors). Watching the players contend with the weather conditions during the game stirred up memories of the times when my friends and I would play hockey on the frozen pond in our neighborhood. Snow wasn't the only issue we had to contend with. After shoveling the snow off the ice, we had to deal with weak spots in the ice, vegetation that protruded through the ice, and spots of irregular ice (like ripples, hollow ice, and snow pockets). As I watched the game on TV I wondered which was more unreal: That there was a hockey game being played outdoors somewhere while it was sunny and warm where I was or that once upon a time I lived in a place that was filled with snow and ice. Both seemed very foreign to me as I adjusted the air conditioning to deal with this year's unusually warm winter weather.
The longer I live in Florida the harder it is for me to relate to the climate up north. I know that it's cold and snowy, but it doesn't seem real to me. Even when I see the images of snow-bound traffic and iced over power lines, winter weather seems so distant to me that it is almost an improbability. While I've "been there and done that" I don't relate to it anymore.
This is how the spiritual darkness of our world can become to us. Once we lived in that darkness, but, having been enlightened by Christ's love through the faith that He brought to us, we now live in His light. All around us are people who are still living in the darkness of sin and despair, but we may not even see the darkness that surrounds us. It's as unreal to us as God's people of light as snow and ice is to someone wintering in Florida. The darkness may be unseen by us, but it controls the lives of millions of people who don't know Christ's light. We are light in this world of darkness because Christ has shined on us. "Arise, shine, for your light has come" is the good news we live in and the good news that we have to share with the world.
