Freestyle Part 3

Part 3 of our Easter Freestyle Series
By Trust Administrator Dr Jenny Cousens


John 12: 35-36.
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have the light, so that you may become sons of light.”


One of our favourite weekend getaways is to the Dunstan Hill campsite in Northumberland. Last time we went we arrived quite late, owing to the roadworks on the A1, but we thought we had just enough time, after eating our fish and chips, to take a walk to the beach. The campsite is about a 15-minute walk from the sea, through woodland, around fields, through gates and finally over the sand dunes. 

For a girl brought up by the sea, arriving on any beach is a re-acquaintance with my roots, and not something I wish to hurry. It became clear, however, that our assessment of the amount of daylight left to make the return walk to the campsite had been overly optimistic, and the light was fading fast. By the time we reached the wooded area it was dark, and without a torch or even a mobile phone to light the way, we were tripping over tree roots and searching for the right gate to get back to the campervan.

Jesus told his disciples to walk while they had the light – don’t linger and look at the scenery; don’t sit down in the middle of the road; keep your eyes on the light – because walking with Jesus is always a journey. The biggest risk to our faith is to be content to stay where we are. Sometimes the journey is a straight road as far as the eye can see; sometimes it is a series of twists and turns and full of the fear of the unknown. That’s why we have to keep moving, staying as close to the light as we can, otherwise we won’t know the way to go and are liable to trip over tree roots along the way. 

If we sincerely want to ‘become sons of light’ – taking light into dark corners - we have to walk with the light. Just as we couldn’t magic up any light to make our walk back to the campsite any easier, we cannot reflect God’s light if we are not in it. God is the one and only source of that light and we have no power to manufacture it from within ourselves.

Walking with the Light, and not knowing what might be around the next corner, can be exciting, scary, sometimes even terrifying………. but Jesus never promised that life would be comfortable.