When Light Surprises

It’s Thursday morning here in Dallas and the weather this week has been up and down. The temperature Tuesday climbed above 80 before a cold front blew in and dropped overnight temperatures into the 30s.

Wednesday morning, I had the privilege and opportunity to preach at our weekly church service. I am heavily imbedded in preparing for our emergency winter inclement weather service alongside my regular work responsibilities. So I am extra grateful for the guest bloggers the Lord has supplied.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:34 (New International Version)

Today’s guest post is from a familiar voice—David Duncan from David’s Daily Dose and All Haiku. I hope that you are blessed by his offering. I am grateful for him and his willingness to share his creative talents with The Devotional Guy™ readers.

Most of the week, leading up to the first Sunday of Advent, the weather where I live was overcast and gloomy. This is unusual for our part of the United States, which gets around 250 days of sunshine per year.

Delightedly, the sabbath (November 27th) dawned bright and clear. It was an ideal beginning for Advent.

Speaking with a friend at church, I mentioned how the cloudy conditions were starting to bother me—before the sun broke through.

He told me a gripping story about a semester he spent at the University of Washington in Seattle. My friend was there for the entire fall semester and saw the sun twice!

One such occurrence happened during calculus class, when full sunlight suddenly poured through a wall of windows. The buttoned-down professor stopped teaching, and everyone went to investigate, enjoying the sunshine.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in shadows, but now light is shining on them.” — Isaiah 9:2 (GNT)

Kind reader, Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s light in human form—like the sun bursting through the clouds of a dreary morning. The celebration of His advent is upon us. Quick, everyone to a window!

—-David—-

I love this guest post that David contributed to my blog. It’s such a rich blessing. The Advent season is all about keeping Jesus front and center. I pray that you and your loved ones are able to do that exceptionally well this year.

This blog continues to grow locally and globally. In recent months, I have been blessed to receive comments from people I encounter throughout the week. I find this to be very humbling. Oftentimes, I’m not sure how to adequately respond to people’s encouraging words in person. “Thank you” simply doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

Globally, while the seeds are small, it’s obvious that they are being planted. Just the other day, a group teaching Belgian students the Bible reached out to me and connected a couple of The Devotional Guy™ posts to their site. “Mind-blowing’ is the only words that I can think of to caption this growing development in the history of this writing ministry God has entrusted me to steward for the advancement of His kingdom.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel
whose origins are in the distant past,
will come from you on my behalf.
Micah 5:2 (NLT)

God is good.

May He shine His favor on you.

Blessings,

Rainer Bantau
The Devotional Guy™

#SamaraFaith

#bgbg2#BibleGateway#Advent

3 Comments

Mary Camille Thomas says:

12/01/2022 at 11:19 am

For some reason this lovely post reminded me of an experience when I was in college. One cold, damp winter morning on my way to class at UC Davis, I saw a custodian raking leaves when a young woman approached him, holding out a paper cup of coffee or tea. Across the leaf-strewn grassy quad the scene played out like a silent movie. He demurred, she offered again, and he finally accepted. Forty years later I still remember this moment like your friend’s rare glimpse of sunshine in Seattle.

LikeLiked by 2 people