The local flood situation meeting was drawing to a close at the end of the afternoon and the talk centered around a couple in the country who had requested fuel to keep their generator going. They were nearly out, the snow was already starting, and the generator was the only thing allowing them to have heat, lights, water, and to run the pumps keeping their house dry. A couple of men had taken fuel on one of the big trucks to bring to them; a last attempt before the newest snow storm hit. They came back too early. There was too much water and ice over the road for even the big truck. There was no way to get fuel out to them.
After conversation by phone, they agreed to come in to town but now it was a matter of getting them rescued before darkness set in. The rescue resources were being staged out of Fargo and the helicopters could not fly out because of the snow and wind. The last time the air boat had been requested, it had taken two hours to reach us thirty-some-odd miles away. We waited anxiously while calls were made assuring the people that help was coming while the sky grew darker.
Finally, the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) guys arrived with the airboat. One of them grabbed a cup of hot coffee to warm up with while they got precise directions and updated rescue details. They left as daylight began to fail. After allowing them time to reach the couple, two of the men took the big truck out to the dyke over the road to shine its powerful headlights out over the floodwater, ice, and snow to give a beacon to the airboat, showing the way to safety. It was completely dark by the time the boat came back and the people were rescued.
Jesus Christ as the light of the world is a metaphor that runs through the Gospel of John from the very beginning. In a practice going back to the earliest Church, the Easter Vigil begins with the lighting of the new paschal (Christ) candle and the procession of the light into the sanctuary. Christ the light of the world signifies his victory over the darkness of sin, death, and chaos. The light of Christ shines hope and life, welcoming us into the shelter of God's love and the darkness did not, has not, and never will overcome it.
Read John 1:1-9; John 12:35-36,44-47
