What To Do When The World Feels Too Dark | Crossroads Daily

Well, hey, welcome back. My name's Caleb. I'm Mish. I'm Sierra. I'm Alex. And this week we're talking about where light shows up in the scriptures. We're in John chapter one, John describing Jesus, uh, calls him the light and he says the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it. Now, I don't know the last time you opened your news app, but the world is pretty dark. There's a lot of, uh, not so great things happening. So my first question, we're just going to jump right in. How do you trust that what John says about Jesus here is true, that the light does shine in the darkness, the darkness will not overcome it when maybe the world gives us different evidence. Maybe even tempts us to think the contrary, that darkness is going to win. How do you, what do you hang on to or how do you trust the scripture to be true? I know for me, as you guys think for me, I always think about, um, I think it's Mr. Rogers. That's where I heard it. Right. You guys know what I'm going to say? Um, he was talking, he was, he was explaining one time, like a natural disaster to kids or whatever. And they were fearful and scared. And he said, when you're scared, look for the helpers. Anytime there's a natural disaster, the red cross is there. People are coming in with water. People are coming in to meet needs. People are coming in to care for people and give a hug and give a blanket or whatever. And I think about that. Yes.

My news app shows me that the world is very dark, but I know people. In this room and outside this room that are actually like meeting real needs of real people, loving their neighbors, showing up for their kids, you know, coaching softball or whatever. Uh, that, those little pricks of light, you talked about a cave a couple of days ago. Those little pricks of light, like they pierce the darkness and those are people acting like Jesus. And that helps me believe that this is still true. Yeah. Mr. Rogers is the best. I mean, I'm going to believe that. He's pretty good. My example was not going to be Mr. Rogers. My first thought when you were reading that was, uh, there's this movie out that's based on a book called Project Hail Mary. So good. So good. Also very good. Um, and there's a scene in the movie that I don't think it's in the book. Yeah. It's not in the book, but the, this woman basically says like, you know, we've got to go space, all this kind of stuff. And Ryan Gosling's character, uh, Ryan Gosling's character says something along the lines of like, and that will work. And she goes, God willing. And he goes, you believe in God. And she says, it beats the alternative. And um, this like book and movie about like science and space and going to different parts of our galaxy and our universe and stuff like that has this like very small quote that is by no means a central part of the movie that I think to me at least as like, yeah, because there is no other option for me.

If God doesn't exist, then the world just really is such a hard and terrible place. The other one, this is where we get to talk about musicals, there's this show called Come From Away. That is incredible. Highly recommend anybody watch it. It's on Apple TV. Shout out to Apple TV. I don't know if we're allowed to even say that. And it's the story about, it's during 9-11 and how all these airplanes get diverted to different parts of Canada. And they specifically focus on one very, very, very small town of Gander, Canada, which is like in Nova Scotia, like in the Arctic Circle. And it's both a beautiful representation of how humanity can come together and be the best when it's just like coming from different cultures and perspectives and just be the best together. And also the exact opposite of that happening in this small little town. People accusing others out of fear. People denying others out of just hatred and darkness. And it's just like a beautiful encapsulation that both exist, but ultimately this thing, this beautiful picture is going to overcome the other. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I think one of the things I realized, I think that I, I realized that I trust God will meet whoever has a spark of courage or an action of faithfulness, that he will meet them in that darkness. I think about, um, I went to an HBCU, which is essentially this product of social injustice, which at the time felt dark. Like there was this darkness because it was a product of the current reality. But there was this vision of, um.

equality that I think was met and because of that God met them in the pursuit and in the work and in the vision that they had. So I think I have faith that God will meet us in the long game if we commit. Yeah, I love that example because it's almost what everyone who follows Jesus is called to do is bring heaven to earth. Even underneath this system of injustice and oppression, there's this college. We're going to educate each other. We're going to improve our lives even though other people want to stop us. Later on in this chapter, John talks about how Jesus is a light but the light didn't just stay in heaven. It didn't stay away from us. Verse 14 says it came, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, the light, didn't stay over there. He came to us. Again, bringing some of that heaven to earth. Where do you see someone doing that in your life that is shining a light, dwelling with people, being proximate to a problem? Let's shout out some of the helpers, right? Where do you see people doing that? Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, so many of the people I look up to, so many men I look up to are doing that every single day. My boss, Grant, does that. My friend, Victor, does that. Yeah. People will say they don't know those people. So how are they doing? So let's shout out. Okay. They are proximate to people who I would say are forgotten. Oftentimes. Yeah. They're willing to go into spaces sometimes at their own detriment and sometimes at the detriment because of how other people receive their actions. They're willing to go into spaces to care for those who are forgotten or many times just ostracized. Sometimes because of their own actions. My friend, Grant, has started a prison ministry and these are people, incarcerated people, who sometimes out of their own actions are part of a system that are lost and forgotten, but also people shun. And he's willing to go into the space despite what other people say about him to be able to care for them, love for them, minister to them. Because those people are still worth it. Yes. Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah. Who else? Think about people who are foster parents. Absolutely. My husband and I did that for a season, about a year. That crap was hard. It was so hard. And we met the most incredible people who were relentless about bringing light to a really, really, really dark place and a lot of kids who were experiencing really, really, really dark things. And not even just other foster parents, but case workers and people who work for nonprofits who would support foster parents or doctors or therapists or what. There were so many people who, and it was not convenient, so it was not out of convenience or a paycheck for sure. Not that. But people who would spend so much time and effort bringing light to that space. It was amazing. Huge. Yeah.

The thing about a friend of our family, specifically a friend of my wife, who is a single woman, never been married. She's legally adopted nine kids by herself. That's crazy. Raised them up. She has a very intensive job too that takes a lot of her time. But it's like she has drawn a line in the sand and says, if I can help a kid's life be better, I will help a kid's life be better. That's some hero stuff, right? But she's not going to be on Time Magazine, right? Not going to be on the news, right? She's making a difference on the west side of Cincinnati. I think it's amazing. It's so cool. We have a ministry led by a volunteer at Crossroads Mason. Her name's Tina. Shout out, Tina. Her and her husband, Doug, lead a ministry called Simple Serve. She sends out an email once a month. She just has all of these connections to a bunch of other ministries in Cincinnati. It'll be things like, this person needs food this month, or this person needs a bed this month. There are all of these people who will just jump in and help. It's called Simple Serve. It doesn't always have to be this like major heroic thing, but sometimes it's the simple things that are bringing even just the little, what feels like just a little bit of light, but is every, it's everything. It's like when someone is consumed by darkness, that little bit of light can change someone's life, you know? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Shout out, they're the best. Jesus, the light of the world, as we've said, did not keep his light for himself, came to earth, dwelt among us, changed everything. I think God is probably pushing on you to do something with the light that he's given you. Go out, take a step toward it today. We'll see you next time.