Greater Light

A Greater Light

On this campus in Uttaranchal, north India, the walkway lights go off at 4:45. It is still night and except for the beams from the moon this morning I would have needed my flashlight (one of those “shake and shine” types I sent for on TV) to get down the steps on the paths that circle the campus.

At 5 the bells ring to wake the girls in the women’s hostel nestled safely between the guesthouse and the faculty apartments. The college is supremely in loco parentis here. I slip quietly by to breathe the cool air—probably 62 degrees I would guess. Students keep asking “are you not cold?” My shadow is sharp since the moon is waning but gibbous, several hours from setting. First light timidly approaches the mountains to the east.

By the time I am making my fifth round dawn is beginning to paint the pastel watercolors that will deepen over eastern horizon. I notice my shadow is losing strength. When sunrise comes, even if the disc is hidden behind the mountains for a while, the shadow will fade and disappear.

Another sun arises. “Arise, shine, for thy light has come; and the glory of Lord shines upon thee.” Drawing near in heart to the “Light that has come into the world” the shadows weaken and die. Just as the moon is still there when I search the sky for it, it no longer casts a shadow. The greater light dispels all darkness and shadows of the night.

Today I will walk in the light as He is in the light. I will have fellowship with brothers and sisters here and around the world. I will reflect His light by God’s grace in all I do. I am no longer a child of the shadows, for the sun of righteousness has arisen with healing for me in his wings. I face today with joy and confidence.

Now that the sun has ascended beyond the peaks of the mountains I notice that the quad has billowing tent pavilions, erected during the night. Is a medieval festival coming? Will I see horsemen with lance and armor competing for the fair ones? Soon I see a banner welcoming children in the name of World Vision.

After chapel I will give my seniors their final exam. But at the end of the service (where a senior destined for tent revival ministry preacher—yes—going overtime, giving an altar call for rededication, and just about splitting my ears with 120 decibel punctuation of his text from Hosea chapter 1) Dr. Samuel, Principal, calls me to the platform to thank me for my service with a brightly packaged small (thankfully) gift. I express thanks for the blessings given by this vibrant community of faith, leaving them with a verse from James chapter sever, verse one: “Trials and tests come in the morning, but joy comes at noon.” Everyone laughs except my poor ethics students!

Fast forward>>>

Exams are over. I am snapping photos of the festivities. “Uncle, uncle!” the children cry. I take a picture of some boys near the playground. Then of some girls sitting on the grass having a boxed “Happy Meal.” Soon a jumping swarm of giggles clamors for foto, foto. That’s the trouble with these digitals—they know they can see themselves a few seconds after the click. Now music is sounding. On the banked wall the chapel praise team is tuning up. I get a snap of the students singing a gesture song with about 200 kids. Most classes have been cancelled for the day—save for my accursed final exam.

A young married couple comes to the guesthouse. He is now teaching here, while his wife is one of the assistants to the Registrar. I had been to their house in a nearby village with Dr. Tim Tennent of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and one-time interim preaching pastor at our church in Haverhill. They have a six-month baby boy. I find it strange that he is unnamed as yet. (I doubt it’s like Kenya, where a child is named after a father figure in hopes is sponsorship for school fees, etc. That has happened to me and to my sister Lois who was a missionary teacher there for 11 years.)

They have come for prayer.

What do you want Jesus to do for you today?

I have severe back pain from childbirth. And an occasional pain the goes from my chest to my back shoulder. I want for you to pray for me.

Do you want me to anoint you according to James 5?

So I explain that there is no oil. OK, you can use a few molecules of butter from the kitchen. So I pray according to God’s will that Jesus will heal her.

Her husband also praises God for deliverance from a darkness that deepened in his life since his father’s death last spring (detailed in a previous Blog) and asks for a sponsor so he can go for his higher degree in two years when the college can release him. He is so humble, so gifted, so worthy. I will pray his needs will be met at the right time.

As they go I give them some snacks I don’t need for their kids. And encourage her to find a doctor to find out her shoulder problem. Someone told her it might need a muscle relaxant. And she said she had had a spinal shot for the birth. I tell her agonizing the aftermath was for my wife when the doctor used a spinal block when our Rachel came into the world.

We part, our faces glowing with the joy of our God.

The greater light! The greater light!