Happy Hanukkah

Have you ever been in total darkness? When I worked for Camp Peniel, we had a crazy leader who took us into an uncharted cave. There were three adults, (the unnamed leader, myself, and the bus driver), and 16 junior high boys. We hiked, crawled, and scratched our way through a maze of up, down, and sideways muddy tunnels until coming to what seemed to be the end. By this time we had been in the cave for over an hour. We sat down and turned off our flashlights to see just how dark it really was. No matter how close your hand was to your face, you could see nothing. Nada. Zip. There was this moment of panic when you wondered if any lights would come back on.

On the way out a boy was injured, and our unnamed leader, at the front, the only one who knew the way out, hurried out with the boy, leaving the rest of us behind. He told one of the boys (I was at the end of the line, so didn’t know what was happening) to “take lefts” on the way out. Now I was in the lead, and lost, and when tunnels go up and down as well as left and right, which left do you take? I took the wrong one.

We were now down to two flashlights (others had broken, bad batteries, dropped into water, etc), crawling through an area inhabited by thousands of bats, and doing everything possible to remain sane. One flashlight was extremely dim, the other was bright enough to freak out the bats. We knew we were lost - nothing looked familiar. The cave seemed like an endless labyrinth of ant tunnels. We prayed plenty.

Every time my thoughts slid down the “what if the last couple flashlights die” path, I forced them to climb back up. It was too scary to consider. We were over three hours in the cave before finding our way out. Once out, I let the thoughts slide. The other leader and I sat down and considered the confusion, misery, panic, and worst possibilities – all for the lack of light. “God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’” Genesis 1:3.

Hanukkah is called the “feast of lights.” It’s the celebration of the lamp of God being re-lit in the temple after the Greek army was defeated. In John 10 Jesus travels to Jerusalem for Hanukkah. It’s the at this time, when the city was lit up in celebration, Jesus said, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.” John 12:26

“O LORD, you are my lamp. The LORD lights up my darkness.” 2 Samuel 22:29

Happy Hanukkah,

Dan