The headline stories for this past week include earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and a horrific terrorist attack in northern Iraq.  First, for the earthquakes.  One of the strongest in recent memory hit Peru with estimates of the dead now surpassing 500, with hundreds still missing in many of the mountainous villages.  Then, later, a less strong earthquake struck Indonesia, causing minimal damage.  In recent weeks, we have also heard of strong earthquakes in Japan, and an earthquake in Utah led to a mine collapse where 6 miners have been trapped for over a week; and, just last night, three miners were killed in another tunnel collapse as they were trying to rescue their comrades.  Then there is Hurricane Dean, hovering in the Southern Caribbean and heading for Mexico and southern Texas.  Forecasters are saying it could reach a category 4 before it hits land the early part of next week.  Once again I believe God is giving us a wake-up call.  It is time that we had better listen.

Then, there was that horrific murderous attack upon two villages in northern Iraq.  These impoverished people had no role in the ongoing sectarian violence being perpetrated in Iraq.  The people were a religious sect that isolated themselves from others.  Yet, they were the targets for radical Islamic extremists who had declared that they were infidels.  Hundreds died.  With this kind of mindset, is it little wonder that peace in Iraq is difficult to be achieved?  The scene in Iraq reminds me of those cowboy movies we used to watch as kids.  There was always the bad guy - usually he wore a black hat, but that is immaterial - who bullied his way into a town using a bunch of hired thugs to do his dirty work.  And he ruled with an iron fist until the good guy - in the white hat - came.  Usually the town did not become safe until the people rose up to do something about it.  Perhaps that is what the people of Iraq need to do - rise up and join with the guys in the white hats to eliminate the bullies. 

Ah, the world continues to be an interesting place.  God continues maneuvering the pieces upon His chessboard.  One can only wonder if a checkmate is coming soon. 

Our Scripture passage this week takes up back into those early verses in the Gospel of John.  You might remember that I have said that these are among the most important verses in the Bible as they relate who Jesus Christ really is.  Last week we were introduced to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.  At the close of verse 8, the Apostle John relates that John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light.  Who was this light?  What happened when that light came into the world?

Verse 9 proclaims that the true light gives light to every man.  Now, we can know from verses 4 and 5, that the light is none other than Jesus Himself.  Notice what John says: Jesus is the only true light.  History shares those moments when false lights have caused men to follow, but only for a moment.  These false lights have shone brightly for awhile, but then have faded into obscurity and bondage of darkness.  Jesus is the only genuine light.  His light will never dim.  His light will never be snuffed out.  His light is always dependable. 

Verses 10 and 11 state a message that is difficult for us to believe.  Jesus Christ, the true light, came into the world that He had created (verse 3), yet His world did not recognize Him and so rejected Him.  Friends, the very world that owed its existence to Him rejected Him.  John states that the world did not recognize Jesus.  It did not know Him.  Now this knowledge is more than intellectual.  It is to know and love intimately as a friend.  It is to be in right relation with another person.  But, the world was too wrapped up in its own pursuits and schemes.  The world was too busy to take time to get to know Jesus.  Before we point an accusatory finger, let me ask you this question: How intimate are you with Jesus Christ?  When was the last time you shared your love with Him?  When was the last time you simply basked in His presence?  If you are light me, those are tough questions to answer.  We are busy...too busy most of the time.  We squeeze God into our planners.  Perhaps, if God would send us a text message to our Blackberries, then we might be more focused upon Him.  It seems that, even in our worship, we come with our itineraries and schedules - people to contact, events to calendar - that God simply is ignored.  The prophet Isaiah was correct in describing his generation, and that description fits ours as well: These people draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 

Because of a lack of knowledge about Jesus, it is then easy to reject Him.  Now, why would the people reject Jesus?  To put it simply: He did not fit their ideas.  They wanted a knight on a white horse...Jesus came on a donkey.  They wanted a Prince born in a palace...Jesus was a pauper born in a stable.  They wanted His headquarters to be in Jerusalem...Jesus instead chose Galilee.  They wanted a leader to resist Rome...Jesus told them to submit to Rome's authority.  When Jesus did not do for Israel or be for Israel what they expected of Him...they rejected Him.  How often have we done the same?  We have this mistaken idea that God is our servant.  All we have to do is to pull on His strings and He will perform for us what we want.  But, God is not our servant...we are His. 

Finally, verses 12 and 13 describe what occurred to those who recognized Jesus and accepted Him.  John tells us that they became the children of God.  And this process came, not as a consequence of any physical birthing, but of a spiritual one (which John will describe for us later in chapter 3).  Oh the joys of being a child of God. 

That brings us to, what I believe to be, the most important verse in this Gospel, and perhaps in the entire New Testament.  But we will save our discussion for that next week. 

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command.  (Fulton Sheen)