In The Dark

One night, when I was young and not very smart, I drove with some friends to the mountains. Our goal was to walk through the woods to a hunters cabin and tell each other scary stories.

By the time we finished the drive and parked the car by the trail to the cabin, we were well primed with fear about the wild dogs that roamed the woods at night. After we got out of the car, the only thing on my mind, was to make it to the cabin without being attacked by the dogs.

The stories that were told in the cabin didn't even compare to the fear I felt walking to the cabin through those dark (very dark) woods.

That dark night I felt fear like I had never felt before. I put myself in a position that could have caused me life altering consequences.

Over 2000 years ago, there was a time that became dark, in particular to twelve men.

These twelve guys followed a man and his teachings.

When that particular night fell, soldiers came and arrested this man. Each of the twelve was affected in a different way. One betrayed him. And two followed him. Nine of them ran and hid. One of the two that followed him, denied knowing him three times, the other carefully followed and watched him to the end.

These twelve men had invested their entire life to follow him and he was taken from them.

Back in those days when a person got arrested they weren't concerned about anyone's rights. If they wanted to beat you to a pulp they did.

And that's what they did to this man. For no reason, they could prove, they scourged him. They put a ring of thorns on his head. They mocked him. They spit in his face. They slapped him.

They took big nails and put them through his hands and feet and nailed him to wood laying on the ground in the shape of a cross.

They then hoisted the cross up so it stood up for people to see him bloody and bruised.

He was innnocent. Yet, they did this to him. The crowd wanted him crucified.

One of his followers stood with the man's mom, his mom's sister, and a friend.

All of this happened to this man. Yet, when He was up on the cross, he looked out at the people, and asked for them to be forgiven, because they didn't know what they were doing.

Forgive them?!

Forgive them.

He forgave the criminal on the cross next to him, while the other one jeered him.

He died. The earth shook, rocks split, and tombs were opened, the temples curtain ripped in half, and the day turned into Darkness.

It was dark.

I often wonder how much darker it was for his followers that night? How dark was it for his mom?

Dark days and nights are usually very lonely, and very long.

This night was the darkest of nights.

I think most people have experienced a very dark night. It is awful to feel it. It is awful to remember it. It is awful to be in the dark night.

Jesus was the one on the cross, and when He died, it caused the world to be a very dark place.

The world without their Jesus. I cannot fathom that thought. The world without it's light. The world without His love. The world without peace, forgiveness. The world without healing. The world without hope, and encouragement.

All things that are good come from above and Jesus is from above.

The world without ANY good?

A life without Jesus?

How dark.

How very, very dark.

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