Step Into the Light
I reach for my phone and hit the snooze button. 5 AM. Still dark. I’ve promised to pick up my friend at 6:30. We will share a room at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. Rethinking the snooze option, I wipe the sleep from my eyes, stretch my stiff sixty-five year old muscles, inch my way out of bed, and stumble to the shower.
Squeaky clean, I let my dog in, but as I shut the screen door, something catches. No matter how hard I try, I can’t work the handle into position. The more I struggle to force it back where it belongs so I can secure the door, the more I fear I’ll break it.
In the meantime, I’ve forgotten my security system is on “quick exit.” A discordant blare screams that time’s up. I rush inside, heart racing, and punch the code into the keypad with trembling fingers. I know nothing is wrong, yet that raucous blast alone conjures up the image of a seven foot tall intruder fiendishly clawing at a bedroom window.
I disarm the system entirely and resume the task of fiddling with the door handle, which finally snaps into place.
An hour later, I’m on a roll. All essentials are packed in suitcase, computer bag, or purse, last minute tasks performed, lights left on, etc., etc. It’s exactly 6:30 as I walk out the door with garage door opener in hand. I’m a tad bit late, but not bad for me, who is never on time for anything.
Exactly 6:30. Oh yeah. The time my friend had warned me a scheduled power outage would take place. Sure enough, the lights go out, the microwave emits its funny little buzz noise, and the motor in the refrigerator winds down to silence.
And my electric garage door opener is now useless. I’m not going anywhere. I’m at the mercy of the light and power company.
This is not a good beginning to a five-day trip.
The doubts swirl around me like the millions of snowflakes that later surround us in Estes Park. Maybe God doesn’t want me at this conference. What do I have to offer anyway?
I’m on faculty this year, representing Step Into the Light, the blog talk radio show I’ve been broadcasting for several weeks. Will anyone attend my class? Do I have any appointments, any conferee who is interested in a guest appearance on the show? Will I be forced to shove business cards in peoples’ faces, praying they will look at it and contact me for an interview?
Five minutes into the doldrums of this morose thinking, the power returns. I dry my tears. They flow again as my friend and I, who do not yet know each other that well, share a moment of prayer. I’m driving, and I’m sure she is entirely comfortable putting her life in the hands of an emotional wreck.
My class is small, but I am heartened by the fact that everyone who attends expresses an interest in a radio show appearance. I find myself taking appointments even with conferees not on my appointment list. The enthusiasm for what I have to offer is overwhelming.
The most exciting moment is when a conferee and I are chatting and she exclaims that she knows she has listened to an episode of Step Into the Light. We identify the guest interview she heard, and she shares that she doesn’t recall how she found the show, but that it lifted her out of a time of darkness.
I sense God’s smile, and for the first time in a long while, I step into the light.
Patti enjoys reading and writing, but most of all, she feels called to encourage others. She promotes the work of published and unpublished writers on her two blogs Patti’s Porch and The Over 50 Writer, found on her website.
She hosts a weekly radio show, Step Into the Light, on Blog Talk Radio. On the show, she interviews guests who share their journey from darkness to light and/or ways they inspire others to make the journey from a dark time back to light.
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