Friday our fourth year class and several visiting professors and Matt had a very interesting trip to the mosque in town. The darkness of mind and life presented there by the Imam and followers seemed so apparent to the students that they couldn’t imagine anyone thinking it was light.
And yet, that’s often how darkness works, isn’t it? “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.” (Matthew 6:23)
Thankful they had this chance (the female students are waiting in another room, as they are not permitted to sit with the men in the inner room) and also that we all had the chance to hear the Crescent Project’s inspiring presentation on how God is at work among Muslims around the globe. There are places Matt and I would never be able to go that men and women from Haiti may very well…we continue to pray and train and come alongside.
Several visiting professors headed out on Saturday afternoon, with their partners at Emmaus finishing their classes for them this week.
Matt preached at the English Bible Fellowship in the afternoon on Sunday, but in the morning we listened to Francis Chan. Always so good and true, his messages are.
An image he shared this time that was so simple yet powerful was with a flashlight. He had a flashlight in his hand and pointed it all around the room, showing us all the things he could draw our attention to.
Chan talked about how we could shine the lights we have at other things, or at ourselves, showing others all the things we can and can’t do, how great or how wretched we are, how talented or worthless we are, using our light to shin on ourselves.
Or, and turning to face the cross on the wall behind the pulpit, he shined his light on the cross, pointing everyone’s attention to Jesus, making it impossible to even see Chan’s face or to loudly hear his voice.
What a fantastic image of our calling, brothers and sisters, to use the Light with which we have been transformed to shine everyone’s attention NOT to ourselves, but to Christ.
It’s with this image, we head into a new week…