the light shines in the darkness

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2009 has been one of the most eventful years of my life. I’m not sure I realized that as it was happening, though. Looking back on it, though, we’ve been on adventures, we’ve had great time, we’ve had really dark times. We drove across Canada. We saw elk and moose and bears and deer and antelopes and beavers and otters and lynxes and wolves and trees and mountains and rivers and lakes. We saw some of the most beautiful natural wonders that God created. And we had a great time doing it. We experienced one of the most incredible things anyone can experience. But that was halted by an overwhelming, seemingly impenetrable darkness. And that’s where this year has ended. The darkness isn’t quite as dark. Its not quite as thick. But its still there.

There are a lot of kinds of “darkness,” figuratively speaking. There is evil. There is sin. There is death. There is the feeling one gets when he or she is overwhelmed with any of these things. Darkness overwhelms. One thing that darkness can’t overwhelm is light. You strike a tiny match in the darkest of rooms, that match will shed light on the entire room. So I’m hanging on to that fact.

In him was life. And the life was the LIGHT of men. And the LIGHT shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.

That’s from John 1:4-5. I got that tattooed on my arm in Greek a while back. It was just a passage that I always liked. But I didn’t understand the depth of it. I don’t think anyone does until they feel that darkness. God stepped into the midst of a dark world to bring light.

Back in October, Leah bought me a Nikon DSLR. I’ve been taking a lot of pictures. And will continue to take a lot of pictures. So I think I’m going to start using this as part photoblog.

The picture at the top was actually taken on a fairly dark night. But I took it with a long exposure time and that captured a whole lot more light than the human eye can see. The longer the exposure, the more the light overwhelms the darkness.

I need more exposure.

Lo, how a rose…

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Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung!
From Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.

It came, a flower bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent was the night

Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind
And now we behold it,
The Virgin mother kind

To show God’s love aright,
She bore to us a Savior
When half spent was the night

The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of Glory
Was born on earth this night.

To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger they found him,
As angels heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere;

True man, yet very God,
From Sin and death he saves us,
And lightens every load.