Illuminate: Send Out The Light!

“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me…” Psalm 43:3

Early one morning after the kids were off to school, I got one of those phone calls from the school office. “Mr. Turner, your daughter forgot her____________ (fill in the blank here if you are a parent… I don’t remember exactly if it was a notebook, homework, gym clothes or something else but if you are a parent you can relate). She wanted us to call to see if you could drop it by the school office.” So I took off to the school to drop off the forgotten item.

This is part of a four part series on Psalm 43
Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

Direction uncertainty with a landscape of confused tangled roads and highways and a group of traffic signs competing for influence as a symbol of the challenges of planning a strategy for success.

It wasn’t a big deal that day to make the run to the school because to be quite honest, I had flexibility in my schedule and there was a reason I was so “flexible.” It was the fall of 2007 and I had spent the past seven years in a ministry focused on training adult youth leaders in youth ministry. It was a “dream job” for me. It was so fulfilling to invest in people who loved God and loved teenagers and help them any way I could to be a little more effective. Part way through that seven-year journey, I transitioned from being a full-time youth pastor to leading this new ministry to over 1,000 youth leaders full-time. But on this morning… when the school called… my schedule was wide open because our ministry to youth leaders had come to an end because of a lack of ministry funding. It was a difficult time and I felt like I had wandered into a dark forest and was completely lost. No job and no idea this would ever happen. I had been surviving by doing some side jobs to try and keep the bills paid.

After my run to the school I turned around to head back home to continue my quest toward figuring out what in the world I was supposed to do next. At the time we lived in a farmhouse south of Lebanon, Indiana. I drove past the Lebanon town square in this quaint little town north of Indianapolis that looks like a scene from the movie “Hoosiers.” Something seemed to say, “Just stop.” So I did. I pulled over on the corner of the town square, parked and turned off the engine. I had no idea what to do next. I started praying.

Walking path through dark pine forest

For quite some time I sat in my SUV having a long conversation with God about my situation. I explained to Him how lost I felt and reminded Him that I didn’t pursue things in life for these past 20 years that would bring me a high income or any type of fame and fortune. It seems funny to me now that I felt He needed my reminders! In the course of my conversation with God I began to notice something and I brought it up to Him. I noticed vehicles passing by. One truck had a plumber logo on it, another was an electrician, an office across the street was where an attorney worked and there was a bank behind me. I told God that each of these people have something to do today… they have a purpose and direction. But, I’m so lost. Lost as if I’m in a dark forest and I don’t know what to do. So I prayed and I waited.

Eventually my prayer time ended and I can still remember lifting my hand to place the key in and turn the ignition. And that’s significant. Before the engine would start there needed to be an “ignition” to fire it up. Once ignition takes place fuel begins to flow, then it burns and we have power to move again.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in this place where you feel utterly and completely lost… but I’d like to tell you from personal experience, there is hope!

Recently I was preparing to speak at a college and career conference in Cincinnati, Ohio and the theme was taken from Psalm 43. As I studied the chapter I realized there is a message here that actually covers the steps that bring us from darkness back to the light… back to God’s holy hill… back to the top of the mountain of victory.

So, I plan to share with you a story of my personal journey. A journey that includes some of the specific ways God brought my family and me through a time of darkness when many things didn’t make sense. It’s a story I’ve often wondered if I would ever share and yet now that we are on the other side… I can see so many lessons God taught us and I realize so many other people are either just entering what feels like a dark forest experience, are in the middle of it or wondering if they may possibly be near the end of a time of darkness and about to see the light of God’s presence like never before!

I think this will be a four part series of articles in order to unpack the story but we will see.

But here is the first step toward making sense of life if you feel things are getting strangely dark. Ask God to “Send out the Light” as in Psalm 43:3. Think of it this way… “God please send out thy light, illuminate my path, shine the light, light the torch, ignite the flame, light the flare, and create an explosion of understanding.” The impact of this statement is a lot like hearing “they’ve sent in the Marines, called in the National Guard, things are serious and it’s time for something big.”

So, for starters I want you to know that on that morning I chose to stop and sit on the corner of the town square and ask God to “light my path, show me the way, ignite a flame of understanding”… He did and I look forward to sharing in my next post exactly what He said. But for now… stop… talk to Him and boldly ask Him to “Send out the Light.”

I’ve created a FREE Resource called “10 Truths To Remember When Life Grows Dark” and you can get it here.

Psalm 43:3

“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me…”