By Dr. Jeff Mathis
I was eavesdropping on a conversation the other day and was reminded of Psalm 23.
Rebecca’s mother was telling her about her grandfather. Her grandfather lived and worked in Wilmington, NC, in the 1920s. A barber by trade, he became friends with a trolley driver. At nearby Wrightsville Beach, a bandstand and ballroom named the Lumina was a popular nighttime destination. Lumina was near the end of the trolley line that ran from Wilmington to the beach.
According to Our State magazine, “More than a thousand incandescent bulbs illuminated the three-story, 25,000-square-foot dance hall. The building was so bright that sailors navigated their ships by it.”
However, the trolley driver didn’t like to drive the trolley by himself at night through the darkness to the bandstand outpost. Understandably, suffocating darkness would surround the trolley when it left the Wilmington city limits, and the trolley driver didn’t want to make the trek to the distant nightclub by himself. He wanted someone to travel with him through the darkness. Rebecca’s grandfather would ride with him so that his friend didn’t have to travel through the night alone.
The Good Shepherd walks with us through dark valleys. Like the friend who travels through the dark of night with the trolley driver, God doesn’t make the darkness go away as much as He accompanies us through it to the light on the other side.
When we choose to join others in their journey through the dark, our presence provides assurance that our destination is light.
And who knows? There may be some dancing when we get there.
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You can read more about Lumina at the link: www.ourstate.com/lumina-pavilion