There are dark things in this world.  It is not a safe place.  As a matter of fact, one of the most stark realities is that living is still the most dangerous thing a person can do . . . Because it always ends in the same place.  Before you shut down your browser, hear me out.

I have been finding myself increasingly propelled into higher places of joy and gladness.  And that joy is coming from some bizarre places.  As a pastor, I am likely just one step below the therapists and the safety officers who see the darkness of people.  The police officers get to use dark humor to cope.  The therapists — God bless them — get to see a steady stream of gripes, complaints, darkness, and guilt.  I am not sure how they cope.

But I also get to walk with people through hardships, dark times of loss . . . My role as pastor includes a front-row seat to the “consequences of sin show”.  Life can get really dark.  Really ugly.

And God has been showing me how to cope.  I cope with gladness.  I cope with hope.  I have been moved to count my blessings.  I am blessed with an incredible wife.  I am reading East of Eden right now, and it is a shock to my system.  It is a modernized book of Genesis complete with evil and wickedness unbound and running rampant in human relationships.  The darkness of the female antagonist makes me want to classify this book as borderline horror.  Like seriously . . . The book has troubled me.

I find myself hugging my wife more.  I find myself thanking God more.  We can observe darkness, throw up our hands and say, ‘what’s the use of fighting’ and just jump in and add to it. Or we can allow the darkness to propel us into gratitude.

The headlines, the broken relationships, the horror . . . It all has an answer.  He came to live a sinless life.  He came to die for our sins.  He came to give a hope that will outlive this fallen world.  He came to promise eternal life to all who will come and ask His forgiveness and take Him as Lord.

The glory of the good news of Jesus Christ is brightest when set in front of the backdrop of human darkness.  A match lit in a cave can be blinding.  How much more the glory of the Son of God revealed in this fallen world?

To say that I am choosing joy misses the mark a bit.  Joy has found me!  And I will continue to grow in counting my blessings.  Sometimes the dark things are needed to really appreciate the light we’ve been given.