The following is from a camp fire devotional I gave at camp this past Thursday night. So as you read, imagine you are 8 years old sitting around the campfire in the deep dark woods of Central Florida Bible Camp. And yes, there were bears nearby!
CFBC Campfire Devo
Campfire Story: It was a night like this…
Darker than dark (you couldn’t see anything!)
We were at camp playing capture the flag.
We had flashlights, but we didn’t want to use them because we were being stealthy (we didn’t want to be seen; we were like spies going into enemy territory, so we stayed in the dark)
My job was to try to capture people from the other team; once they crossed the line into our area we could tag them and put them in our team jail.
So in the darkness I could hear someone coming closer to me. It was the other team. I just knew it, so I stayed still. I was so quiet (quiet as a mouse). I allowed for the noise to get closer, waiting till it got right next to me before I jumped out to capture them. So they got closer and closer and closer… and finally I jumped out and said “gotcha” as I turned on the flashlight. And what I found on the other side of that flashlight was not a member of the other team, it was not another kid, but a giant deer filled with pointy antlers all pointing toward me. You know what I did next?
I screamed “aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhh”! And the deer went “aghhhhhhahhhhhhh! (I actually have no idea if the deer made a noise because I was too busy screaming.) It was scary! I took off running through the woods as fast as I could go.
I tell you the story because when you are out in the deep dark woods, you have no idea what you will run into. Monsters, bears, deer, it could be anything.
There is another kind of darkness; the kind of darkness that encourages us to lie, to say mean things, to cheat, or do any number of evil things. That darkness is something that God has called us to stay away from. We are called out of darkness and into the light. Notice what Jesus said in John 12:35…
“35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” John 12:35-36 NIV
Jesus has called you to be with Him, because He is the light. If we have him in our lives we will never be defeated by the darkness. With Him (with His light) we will be able to defeat sin and temptation every day! When we belong to God, we know that we are not alone; that no matter how dark life gets; we have Jesus in our lives, we have His light to guide us thru the darkness. - Vic
