{"id":5164,"date":"2026-01-16T09:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5164"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:07:11","slug":"light-in-the-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/light-in-the-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Light in the Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>
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There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as squeezing your body through a narrow sieve of limestone knowing there’s a hundred\u00a0feet of solid rock just above your head.\u00a0
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Spelunkers, at least, love that challenge.\u00a0\u00a0
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People with claustrophobia generally don’t have such a positive experience in “wild” caves.\u00a0
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Nor do those who cut corners on their preparation.
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On a number of\u00a0occasions, I\u2019ve led groups\u00a0of spelunkers into Wayne’s Cave, one of about 500 non-commercial caverns in southern Indiana. Wayne\u2019s\u00a0opens with a memorable crawlspace that is a quarter of a mile long.\u00a0In\u00a0many places it is no higher than 18 inches. It takes an hour to crawl that distance one way.
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That is, as long as you keep moving.
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I once got stuck between my belly and my back in one of the tighter squeezes of the Wayne’s\u00a0crawlspace.\u00a0While it only\u00a0took about 10 minutes to shimmy free, I had the distinct impression\u00a0that I was subtracting 10 years of emotional well-being from my life.
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Beyond the crawlspace, there are extraordinary rooms to explore. But the fact remains that there\u2019s no back door to Wayne\u2019s Cave.\u00a0There\u2019s only one way in, which means there\u2019s only one way out.\u00a0Which means you have to save enough energy and resources for that hour-long exit crawl.
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Some years ago I led\u00a0a group of eight spelunkers into Wayne’s.\u00a0For half a day we had marvelous adventures. But now it was time to head home.
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We took a quick inventory and made a somewhat\u00a0alarming discovery.\u00a0Half of our flashlights had gone out.\u00a0Half of those that were still working were dimming.
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Some of us had gone to back-up lights, but most of the group had apparently assumed that everybody else would be lugging a back-up light, so they didn\u2019t need to be burdened by carrying one.
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It began to dawn on me that we might be in a bit of trouble.
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I always thought it would be cool to be an illustration\u00a0in somebody’s TED talk.\u00a0I just didn’t want the title\u00a0of the talk to be, “Dark Moments in Emergency Preparedness.”
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We had a minimum of 60 minutes to crawl and to climb.\u00a0We were exhausted.\u00a0Our batteries were waning.\u00a0Ultimately we had one working light at the front of our group, and one at the back as we worked our way\u00a0through the infamous crawlspace.
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What I gained that day was an entirely new level of respect for the power of light to banish darkness.
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Once we reached the surface (yes, all eight of us made it out alive)\u00a0our little flashlights, which had been so crucial underground, couldn\u2019t even be seen in the daylight.
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The task of bearing God\u2019s light in a darkened world is an urgent one.\u00a0
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A couple of years ago a Christian TV network ran this ad:\u00a0\u201cJesus is coming soon \u2013 perhaps tomorrow!\u00a0Send ten dollars for a video that will explain the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.\u00a0Allow six weeks for delivery.\u201d\u00a0
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If Jesus\u2019 good news\u00a0is what the world needs now, we\u2019re going to have to rethink the urgency of our efforts to shine for him.
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Jesus assures us that just one of his followers, strategically placed, can light the way for many others.\u00a0
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In Matthew 5:14-16 he says: \u201cYou\u2019re here to be light.\u00a0God is not a secret to be kept.\u00a0We\u2019re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.\u00a0If I make you light-bearers, you don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?\u00a0I\u2019m putting you on a light stand.\u00a0Now that I\u2019ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand \u2013 shine!\u201d\u00a0 (The Message<\/em>)
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Wherever you are today, however you are called to serve, be a light in the darkness.
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Show the way for those alongside you.
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Shine.<\/em>


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as squeezing your body through a narrow sieve of limestone knowing there’s a hundred\u00a0feet of solid rock just above your head.\u00a0\u00a0Spelunkers, at least, love that challenge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People with claustrophobia generally don’t have such a positive experience in “wild” caves.\u00a0\u00a0Nor do those who cut corners on their preparation.\u00a0On a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117,810,1059],"class_list":["post-5164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-darkness","tag-light","tag-spelunking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5166,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions\/5166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}