Too Light

Do you remember that old VBS song? You know the one:

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel-NO! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel-NO! I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.  Won't let satan whufff it out, I'm gonna let it shine. Won't let satan whufff it out, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

 Man that was a great song for vacation Bible school and children's Sunday school and stuff like that.  It made a point and it was fun to sing.  I remember doing all the hand motions and stuff like that and getting up in church to sing this song.

So in Luke 11:33 Jesus talks about us having this light in our lives.  He makes the point that no one lights a lamp and then goes and hides it, or puts it under a basket.  That would be pointless really.  Instead when you light a lamp like that you would make sure that it was in a place where the light could be seen and would be useful.

After I graduated from high school, my family moved from Midland to Snyder (that's all in West Texas in case you are wondering).  One of the things that we did at our new house was to put up a basketball goal.  The only real problem was that the only outside light we had didn't really shine bright enough and throw far enough for us to be able to play at night.  Then one of my parents showed us something that we had.  In the garage we had a much brighter work light that we could move out there.  So we would plug in the work light, place it on the corner of the roof and be good go even though it was dark.  I would have pointless for us to have this light and to take it out and plug it in and then stick it behind a wall on in the flower bed.

That is what Jesus is talking about here.  As Christ's followers we have his light burning inside of us.  But if we hide it or try to cover it up, what good is that to us or anyone else?  This world is a dark place desperately in need of the Light, and it is up to us to shine that light for others to see.  Peace and Love y'all.

Patriot Games

The time has come to start again.  I am planning to start writing again on this blog on a regular basis and with daily topics once again.  So with that said, the topic for Mondays have in the past been sports, so here we go.

Lots of great stuff in the sports world over the last 5 days it seems like.  From the BCS National Championship game in college football (The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over the Texas Longhorns 37-21 to win their 13th national championship) to the first round of the NFL playoffs (Cowboys won their first playoff game in 13 years; the Cardinals won a shoot-out, 96 combined points, on, of all things, a defensive play in overtime) it was a great 5 days of football (I honestly didn't pay close enough attention to any of the other sports that were going on).

But in all of that there was one thing that did seem to stand out and it happened yesterday.  The New England Patriots showed that they are possibly on the downside of being a dynasty when they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 33-14.  Not that big of a deal really just to look at the score.  The thing that IS a big deal about it is the fact that it was a loss at home for the Patriots.  And in the playoffs, well, that just doesn't happen.  Not since 1978 at least, which they showed yesterday was over 11,000 days since they last lost a home playoff game.

Lets think about that for a moment.  It has been 32 years since the last time these guys lost at home in the playoffs.  That's three decades of dominance for them on their home field.  I mean what kind of crazy advantage is that?  There have been so many things that have happened in that time span.  Here is a list of things that have happened in my life alone since the last time the Patriots lost at home in the playoffs: 

1. I had three brothers born in that time.
2. I went all the way from elementary school through college graduation.
3. I got married.
4. I had three children.

So yeah, that's a pretty long time and so much has happened.  But guess what. The world didn't fall off it's axis, the ice caps didn't spontaneously melt and flood the world, the world didn't go dark and flags were not flown at half mast (except maybe in New England).  It was a heck of a run by the Pats.  They will do what they do in the off season and will come back next year and give it another go.  Here's to hoping they can reclaim their former glory days, when they were routinely 1-15 or 4-12 at best.  Well at least I can dream.  Peace and Love y'all.