Darkness is the absence of light. Once you see the light, you will know the way. I walked the path you walk… across the wasted land. Eyes accustomed to the night, I thought the enlightenment of man could illuminate the path. I thought I needed no god.
I determined not be a blind follower. I decided to take my own path, and thus followed the dimness of man’s wisdom. Deeper and deeper into the heart of man…then it became so dark that the dimness of man’s wisdom offered no help. I groped about and stumbled…and fell, and refused to admit that I was lost in the depravity of man.
When the light appeared, I hid from it. Eyes accustomed to darkness winced in pain. The light did not go away but did not come so close as to overbear me. As my eyes began to adjust, the pain began to dissipate. I was no longer repelled by the light…but rather intrigued by it. The darkness around me could not comprehend the light that had appeared. Those that had travelled with me scattered and fled from the light.
I drew closer and the light drew closer. The sun had risen and I could see clearly for the first time in my life. The light was Jesus, the Son of God. The very thing I rebelled against. The thing I had misunderstood and labelled as opium for the masses. I had seen religion all of my life, but I had never seen the light.
I misunderstood Christianity because in the darkness I could not clearly see. I was like a child seeing a monster in the shadows – when the father turns on the light he clearly sees that the monster was nothing more than a coat…misconstrued by the imaginations of a child.
I now know the way, and I walk the path trusting the light. I call out to those that are lost, like I was. Don’t follow me, for I am no better than you. Follow the light that you had seen. Walk toward that which you have fled. He is the Way.
Jake Allen Sharp 