TunnelHave you ever ridden through a tunnel? It can be a harrowing experience - especially if the tunnel takes you underneath a large body of water. Have you ever seen the movie “Daylight” where people get trapped in the Holland tunnel that’s under water? Some get injured. Others die. Only a handful make it out alive. I think about this movie everytime I’m in a tunnel.

Tunnels are usually darker than the outside environment and the enclosed, constricting area can make some people feel uncomfortable. Have you ever felt like your life was going through a tunnel? What part are you in? Perhaps your just entering a dark moment or you’ve been in the darkness for a while. Are you half way through or three quarters of the way?

Things may not be going your way on your job. Perhaps you are having problems in your family life. Maybe you just found out you have to face a pretty scary medical condition and you’re not sure how you will make it…

The thing about tunnels is that you cannot really tell how far along you are until you… “see the light at the end of the tunnel.” I’m sure you’ve heard this old adage before. It may seem cliche, but it is true. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I can remember my own tunnel experience where fear and depression gripped and enveloped me so tight that I thought I’d never get out. The darkness of the tunnel was so strong and invading - and the pain and fear so intense - that after a number of years in this situation feeling like there was no light waiting for me, not sure how far along I was… I chose the only thing that seemed logical to me at the time. Suicide.

I reeled against God, my family and myself and this seemed to be the only way out of my internal pain and suffering. But God intervened on that dark, warm summer night back in 1992 and showed me there was light at the end of my tunnel. The next day was literally bright and I stood at the very spot in my parent’s driveway, where I so desperately wanted to die, and looked up to the sky and said to God, “You didn’t let me die last night. You must have a plan for my life. I want it.”

Now coming out of a tunnel doesn’t mean that there won’t be different types of dark times later in life. Storms will come. The path before you will seem murky and cloudy at times. But Christ promises us that if we hold on (don’t do anything stupid and make rash decisions) and place our faith in Him, then He will see us through the tunnels in our lives.

Just around the next bend of the tunnel could be the very light that you seek.

Let me know what you think.

-Allen Paul Weaver III-