Shinning the Light

[toad]

“God enters by a private door into every individual.”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON

In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
John 1:1-5 The New Living Translation

My great grandfather was a water well driller. His son, grandfather was a water well driller. My father used to work for my grandfather drilling wells, and two of my uncles were well drillers. My uncle Darrell who lives in Texas is the only Master Ground Water Contractor living in Texas recognized by the National Water Contractors Association. The reason I am telling this to you is to give you my association with water wells, and to relate that to the Scripture verse “The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” Some of my earliest memories are of going out the places where my grandfather was drilling a well. I can remember we would take a lunch, load into the car, and drive for miles down these gravel Ozark Mountain roads to get to the place where Papa had set up the rig and was drilling a well. My uncle Darrell has all the modern rotary drilling equipment, but my grandfather used cable tools that had heavy bits that pounded the rock till it was pulverized. The bits had to be sharpened by sledgehammers after they had been heated in a furnace built in a pit in the ground. It was quite an operation for a young boy to see. The derrick sticking up way in the sky, many times we could see the derrick way before we got to the well site. My grandfather would always pour water down the well as he was drilling. It takes water to get water. When he would pull the bit out of the well, he would then run down a sand line, which would remove the water and crushed rock. It was then at this time that he would let us kids look down in the well. A six-inch hole, several hundred feet deep is difficult to see into. A flashlight would never put enough light far enough for the human eye to see. What my grandfather did was take a mirror, catch the sunlight and shine it in the well. Amazing how the extreme brightness of the sun penetrated through the darkness all the way to the bottom of the well. Of course the light of the sun had traveled 93 million miles to get here, so a few hundred feet more didn’t make any difference. And so it is with the Light of God that is shinning through His Son Jesus Christ. It has traveled from eternity to eternity, never dimming. “The darkness can never extinguish it.” I like the way the New Living Translation puts that verse. The only darkness that is in my life is there because I have allowed it to be there, and it can never overpower the true Light of Life. I am so grateful for a Power greater than myself, Jesus Christ, a Power that extinguishes the darkness. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself……………JRE

[cwohio]

thanks toad! i get so much out of your posts!

[best]

Originally Posted by cwohio

thanks toad! i get so much out of your posts!

Ditto

[cmc]

toad,
You are so blessed to have such memories!

I like the part where the reflected sunlight penetrated the well when the man-made light could not!

That 'light' that shines is eternal, purposeful, beautiful and reflects His glory!!

[toad]

Originally Posted by cmc

toad,
You are so blessed to have such memories!

I like the part where the reflected sunlight penetrated the well when the man-made light could not!

That 'light' that shines is eternal, purposeful, beautiful and reflects His glory!!

thank you for your kind words..........my uncle Darrell passed today......I will be gone to Texas for a few days. I dedicated today's page to him, I did not put that part of the text on the post...............I found out he had passed while I was writing it.........I will see him again...........He is a Christian. I almost wrote he "was" a Christian, but I had to correct myself, because if you die as a christian you are always a Christian...........toad

[best]

What a beautiful tribute to him you are as well as your post.

Prayers are with you my friend. Though we know they are in a much better place, we still miss them.

[cmc]

toad,
I am so sorry for your loss, yet I rejoice for his gain!! He sounds like a wonderful man! God bless you as you travel and we will be here as always when you return. I will keep your family in my thoughts and prayers.
Hugs,
cmc