This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. – John 1:5-6
It is extra helpful sometimes to be around family, especially in terms of love and encouragement. Our children are two of ten cousins on Rebekah’s Alexander side. They live in Krakow, Virginia Beach, Washington DC, Charlotte, Jacksonville (3) and Orlando (3).
So Thursday evening Rebekah and I were invited to the home of our children’s cousin Jordan and her husband, Bobby. Also there were Lindsay, her husband Johnny as well as Lindsay’s parents – Joe and Cheryl.
Jordan and Bobby live in a charming 1920’s house on a brick street in an old section of Orlando.
So it was good to be with Rebekah’s brother Joe and to see how our nieces and their husbands are building such positive lives here in Orlando. They all go to the same church together and we can’t wait to see what happens when Jordan and Lindsay and their husbands begin to raise their own families.
As God’s beloved children, we are called to be salt and light wherever we are, messengers of the Good News in everything that we do, and it is obvious that Orlando is absolutely going to be a better place because our nieces and their husbands are building homes – and community – here.
Hope we must pay attention to:
Here is what gives me such hope: Each and every one of us, no matter what has happened in our lives up to this point, has the opportunity to live in the light and to be what I would call “Shedders of Light.”
By that I mean to be so filled up with love and goodness and grace and light that it just spills out all over the place. Living luminously, bringing hope and mercy and all kinds of good news to everyone.
I am serious about this! Life only moves in one direction, forwards. All we have to do is to turn our faces to the light and shine. But we cannot do this in isolation; we need each other, we need community.
In love, and because of love – DEREK