And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
- Genesis 1:3-5
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
- Exodus 14:19-20
You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.
- 2 Samuel 22:29
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
- Psalm 112:4
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
- Isaiah 42:16
Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
- Amos 5:18-20
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the lightof life.”
- John 8:12
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life.
In her leaving, she said someone would come. I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived. While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.
This Week’s Question
Last week, Babs was determined to know about the love of God.
This week, she was giggling when she came into the dining room where I had my computer set up in the corner of the room. I was tired of packing it up and unpacking every time we had guests for dinner. And having guests was becoming a common occurrence. Babs had family over, and members of the wedding party, and church members, and a few others.
“Babs,” I asked, “What has gotten your giggle box turned upside down?”
Babs laughed. “Harold, I asked Google AI how many wedding planners it takes to change a lightbulb. AI gave me three options. I don’t know which I like the most.”
I said, “Wait, Babs. You have to be careful. Is it AI dreaming up the jokes or are they finding them on the internet?”
Babs looked at me cross-eyed. “Duh, like I don’t know what I am doing! If they copy it from somewhere else, they give a link to where it came from. I didn’t see any links, so this must be AI using the formula to create its own jokes.”
I laughed, “Okay, Babs, if you will please uncross your eyes, you can tell me something I do not know. How many wedding planners does it take to change a lightbulb?”
Babs said, “Answer number one: Only one, but the new one has to match the reception decor, the lighting schedule needs to be updated, and she’ll need to send out a memo to all the vendors about the new wattage.”
I laughed, “That sounds about right, what is your second answer.”
Babs snickered, “Answer number two: Just one. But first she’ll draw up three mood boards for the color palette, assemble a task force, and prepare a contingency plan in case the bulb burns out again during the ceremony”.
I laughed, “I am so glad we are having the wedding inside the Crystal Mountain. I don’t think they know what a mood board is.”
Babs groaned, “But the reception is in their huge conference center, lunchroom, whatever. All kinds of chances to have mood boards in there. Do you want the last one?” I nodded. She said, “Answer number three: Four. One to hold the bulb, and three to tell her it’s never going to look as good as it did on Pinterest”.
I laughed. “I loved each of them, but please do not ask AI for the engineer version of that joke. I have heard many of them over the years. But why did you think of asking AI for the answer?”
Babs sighed, “Harold, a wedding planner from the church has been wanting to offer her services. I told her that the color scheme will be a Mardi Gras party: Gold, Green, and Purple. Pink Lady is working on that herself. They have confirmed that Lilith will be in town for the wedding, so the Purple Four will be the original four plus Menzie. They will sing Lilith’s song that she wrote with her husband, and then Menzie will sing My Only Love. Then Dr. Ben Casey does a great Elvis. He’ll sing Can’t Help Falling in Love. But he is doing that at the reception. I keep telling her that we have most of it planned already, but she says it will be horrible without a wedding planner. The first thing she wants to do is change the date. No one heard of getting married on Shrove Tuesday.”
I groaned, “Didn’t you tell her that in the old days, the Catholic church made people give up getting married during Lent and Shrove Tuesday was one of the biggest days of the year to get married in those days?”
Babs shrugged, “Yes, but it did not stop her. She does not want to give away all her secrets without us signing her on as part of the deal, but I keep saying that I am satisfied with what we have. She is a nice lady, but…”
I smiled, “I do not like the people that will not take ‘no’ for an answer, and they press you with the hard sell. She may be a nice lady, but Pink Lady is doing this for free, so I cannot think she can beat the price. But why the joke about changing a lightbulb?”
Babs shrugged, “I don’t know. Jesus says for us not to worry, but these things always pop into my head.”
I smiled, “Babs, you know that God separated the light from the darkness on the first day of Creation.”
Babs nodded, wide-eyed, “And that was before He created elestristicals.”
I snickered, “That’s called electricity, dear.”
Babs gasped, “But what if some evil person highjacks the power grid?”
I asked. “Babs, when the Egyptian army approached the Israelite encampment next to the Red Sea, the angel in charge of the cloud by day moved the cloud so that it blocked the army from advancing. That gave the Israelites plenty of time to cross over the Sea on dry land, and God kept the Egyptian army in the darkness while He provided light from the pillar of fire to help them cross over.”
Babs grinned, “Wow! That was neat. What else have you got, big boy?”
I smiled, “Second Samuel 22:29, and then again in Psalm 18, it says that God is our light in the darkness. That personalizes it a bit.”
Babs grumbled, “But Harold, the power grid and individual lightbulbs in the Crystal Mountain are kind of less than personal.”
I smiled, “But Psalm 112:4 says that even in darkness the light dawns.”
Babs giggled, “Do the prophets talk about light in the darkness?”
I smiled, “Isaiah 42:16 says that God will lead the blind and turn the darkness into light before them. That’s the same verse that talks about making the rough places smooth.”
Babs said, fanning herself, “Oh, Harold. You are turning me on with all this Bible knowledge.”
I laughed. “I have my laptop in front of me and doing a Bible search on verses with ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ is about as easy as asking AI to write a joke for you.”
Babs sighed, “Oh, but you still turn me on, big boy.”
I moaned, “So, are you even interested in Amos 5? I think it is very interesting.”
She giggled. “Okay, Harold, what about Amos 5?” But she started running a fingernail up and down my arm.
I said, “Amos is asking the people why they wish to be there in the Day of the Lord? The prophecy of Amos says that the Day of the Lord will be a day of darkness. The man will run from a lion just to run into a bear, and then when he finally reaches his home, he rests his hand against the wall and a snake bites him.”
Babs doubled over laughing, “Oh, the poor man. If a sitcom writer came up with that story, he wouldn’t be able to sell it. It is too implausible.”
I smiled, “But God works in mysterious and even miraculous ways.”
Babs asked, “Did Jesus say anything about the light and darkness?”
I nodded, “Yes, you know he did. John 8:12. Jesus says that He is the light of the world. It is one of His ‘I AM’ statements. So, no more worries about lighting and lightbulbs. Besides, Pink Lady has solar panels and even with her cider operation and all the apartments, she occasionally sells power back to the city grid. Lightbulbs can blow out, but they have a great maintenance crew. But they have plenty of independent power.”
Babs leaned in close and kissed me, “God says not to worry. That’s why when the Devil puts a question in my head, I try to find a joke to throw back in his face.”
I sighed, “I underestimated you, Babs. I am going to have to keep an eye on you. You are more cunning than I thought.”
Babs laughed, “And don’t you forget it, Harold. And just in case you are not checking the days off on your calendar, our wedding is exactly four months away.”
I gasped, “And we need to get over to Lily the Pink tomorrow. We will have less than four months to check all those lightbulbs!”
Babs slid a chair next to mine and we hugged and kissed. Then Babs said, “Not to worry, I sent Jim Kaiser a text message. He sent a text back with a variety of laughing emojis and lightbulb emojis.”
We forgot all about supper that night. We just sat at the dining room table and kissed.
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
I do not think my wife ever forgot to have a meal. Maybe I was not that good of a kisser, but then again, my wife’s favorite thing to do was keep her family fed.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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