The Lighted Grave

(Copyright photo - do not use without requesting permission)

The photo is not mine - it belongs to a friend from work, it is her grandfather's gravesite. She took the photo after her grandfather's services. When she showed it to me, I asked if I could use it on a blog. That's been months ago. That's how many opportunities I've let slip by to share what was an awesome experience for a granddaughter. And a great deal of thoughtfulness from me.

Is it simply a trick of lighting that has a shaft of sunlight reaching down to touch the flowers on  one grave out of many? Or is the God who created the universe capable of noticing the loss of one individual who believed the biblical words:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?  (Micah 6:8)

I recently was reminded that not everyone believes in a deity. Yet we persist in believing a book that took hundreds of years to compile and has lasted over to thousand years following what we see as the last documented entry. Before a century followed Jesus birth, His story was written. I think it is best said as John introduced Jesus in his gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1-5)

Writers of the Bible, we firmly believe, were inspired by God - literally God-breathed the information that was to be written, and in many cases explained why:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

I'm sitting at my computer knowing I could write for days and still not help you connect the dots unless you are looking for the faith that we have in a personal, loving, salvation offering, deity referred to as LORD, God, Father in the Bible. You've heard of Him, or you wouldn't have read this far. Take the next step and get to know Him as well as the gentleman in the grave did.

That light beam touched down for less than a moment.

That's all that took. Less than sixty seconds to be noticed, appreciated, photographed. Less than a moment in time that actually inspired me to ask for permission to use the photo on this blog. My purpose? To share with you a light meentioned by John six times in his gospel - and he wasn't the only one. In one his inspired verses, John quotes Jesus:

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)

I write so people will look for that light. Look for it in people around all of us. Look for it in prayer to God to provide the light in their own lives. If this light appears hidden to you, be aware of the reason and pray you do not fall in this category:

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)