I have a friend who is a counselor. She was approached by another therapist who was struggling with a client. The therapist was not a Christian and since his client was he wanted some insight from my friend. The issue was the homosexuality of the child of the client. The therapist asked my friend her opinion as to what he should tell his client. My friend said, “Tell your client to love her son. She doesn’t have to agree with the behavior, but she needs to love him now more than ever.” The therapist was stunned. He said, “You are the first Christian I’ve ever talked to who said that about a homosexual.”

That’s just sad.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” He didn’t say, “You are the hammer of the world.” Too many times Christians see themselves as the hammer and not the light.

One of the good things and bad things about being a part of such a large church is there is so much going on I don’t know. I’ve known for a while that our church has supported Rahab Ministry. I vaguely knew it was a ministry to prostitutes in Akron. Two weeks ago I went down to minister with Rahab. There were 6 of us, 3 men and 3 women. We sat and prayed together and read Scripture for about a half hour before we headed out. Then we went to the strip clubs. The men stayed outside and prayed and the women took gift bags into the clubs for the girls who worked there.

It was stunning.

Our team had a chance to pray with some of the women and generally remind them that there are people who care for them and a God who loves them and has not forgotten them.

“You are the light of the world,” Jesus said. Light is brightest when it shines in the pitch black. I was a witness of light shining in the darkness. It’s a ministry that happens almost every Friday night. A small group of Christ followers going where the need is overwhelming. We didn’t change the world but we were obedient to the call of Jesus and when we left there was a little light where there had been nothing but utter darkness.

I spend a lot of time in the light. I hope you do too. But every follower of Jesus needs to find a dark place to shine every once in a while. Find your place and let your light shine.