Thanks to all of you who helped sod Ross’ yard Saturday. This will be a great blessing to him and his wife, Angelie. She is currently in Houston at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. She has made some improvement, but is still very sick. Continue to pray for her. We had 26 people show up to help work in the yard of someone they didn’t even know. You guys are great!

This morning I set out�early to stage the remainder of the grass while the forklift was still available. It was still dark, but I thought I could manage moving four pallets of grass around in the dark. Pallet one was no problem. I picked it�up and moved it to a location more suitable for setting out the sod. Pallet two and three, exactly the same. In less the 15 minutes I was three fourths of the way finished with the task. Then came pallet four. I thought I had slid the forks into the pallet properly, but this pallet was in a different location to begin with. It was a darker place than where the other three pallets were located. As I began to lift the pallet everything seemed to be going well—then I heard the crack of breaking wood. The load began to shift and there was that obvious point of no return where I knew the load was lost. I watched as�hundreds of grass squares spilled onto the ground in a mass of green and brown. Thankfully, the squares remained intact which meant that I could put them out. Regrettably, the squares remained intact which meant I had to put them out. So, for the next two hours I paraded up and down Old Pond Road laying out a pallet of grass. Just before daybreak I put out the last the square from the spilled pallet. Maybe staging the pallets in the dark wasn’t such a great idea after all. Yes, I got through in plenty of time to get ready to go to the office, but would it have killed me to wait for daylight? I would have been able to see that the pallet was not lined up properly with the forks of the lift. I would have never spilled that pallet of grass.

I began to think about that very issue as I was laying the grass. An important life lesson became very evident. How often do I work in the spiritual dark? That is, how often do set out on my own to do things that God never meant for me to do? How often do I simply do what I do in my power and on my own authority? It is very easy to spill a load when working in that fashion. Not only is it�just harder to do the work, but it often leads to more work when I have to clean up the mess I made by working in the “dark.” However, when we follow God’s plan for our life we are guided by God who “dwells in unapproachable light.” The light of His dwelling is so intense that just being near it will light our path. It is the Word of God that is “a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” With that kind of illumination we are able to see exactly what we are doing and make adjustments if necessary. Walking in that light will make life more bearable no matter what�circumstances�following God brings to our life!

Furthermore, I began to think about the people who walk in utter spiritual darkness; those people who do not know Jesus as Savior. How difficult life must be for them. They go through life without any real direction. They have to look to themselves to find the answers for life. For many, that means that there are many spilt pallets that must be cleaned up. They go from one crisis to another trying to clean up the mess.

When we enter their lives that unapproachable light that dwells within us needs to come shining through our lives to help light the way for them. We light their path by living out the Word before them. We light their path by sharing with them the light of the world. We introduce them to Jesus and they begin to have their path in life illuminated by the same�light we follow. Too many people are left alone to clean up their pallets that have fallen over while trying to move them in the dark. If we point them to Jesus they will have the same testimony that we have: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of darkness, a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:2 ).

When dawn broke, I could see to finish cleaning up the mess. It was easy to see and easy to clean. Bobby even came by to pick up some of the grass and we were able�to load it onto his trailer with ease since the owner of the forklift was late picking it up. Working in the light is so much easier. Let’s work in the Light. Let’s help others work in the Light!