T is for TORCH

Why is it that just when you need a torch, either the batteries are completely flat or you've removed them to use in some other appliance or the bulb has blown? Dad used to keep reciting the oldest joke in the book when he would say, 'Where was Moses when the lights went out? to which the answer is 'In the dark'. I'm not sure where in the Bible, there is mention of Moses in this lack of light but I guess an adequate reply would be 'But he didn't have to be if he'd been Ever Ready.' Anyway, like most families, torches have been part of our history since I was a kid. Dad had received several over the years as Christmas presents from us because he used one almost every day. Usually, it was dark in the morning when he went out to feed the cattle so the torch went with him and it was quite a strange sight, if not a little bit eerie, to see this dark figure moving slowly up the yard with a bale of hay across his back and a bright light bobbing slowly by his side. After a wet, cold winter or two, during which it would fall off walls, be left in wet puddles or even get trampled on by hungry hooves, the torch was ready for a rest and it was then time to replace it with a newer version, though I remember one, bright red in colour, that lasted for many years, but only with the help of sellotape. The battery was huge, about the size of a pint carton of milk but would usually last most of one winter.

When wife got her horse a few years back, my nod of approval and assistance amounted to a lovely rechargeable torch with both normal and fluorescent lights and a red, flashing, warning light, though I'm not sure what benefit the latter was when standing in a dark field with a motionless horse in the middle of the night. The only problem with the torch was that it was about the size of a small house and had to hang vertically from your hand so it wasn't easy to direct light on to any object. So horses and I remained in the dark about each other.

One of my recent mobile phones had an on-board torch that doubled as a flashlight for the camera and it could be set to produce white light but also red, blue, green, yellow and purple beams. It was a very useful tool to have when out for a walk on a dark night but eventually I decided not to use the colours too often as too many aeroplanes travel over the top of our house on their way to the airport and I didn't want to be responsible for one landing in the lane outside.

In the late seventies, I bought a torch in America that was self powered and required no batteries. There was a ratchet mechanism inside that, when the handle was squeezed, it turned a little dynamo inside and light appeared at the front. But excessive squeezing eventually caused the plastic ratchet mechanism to break and that was the end of it all. So it was a wonderful surprise to discover that a local shop was offering a more modern version of the same thing recently and at £4:99, could you go wrong? So I took the plunge and it's been a wonderful success, though to say it has revolutionised my life is somewhat of an overstatement. Initially, wife was sceptical of my purchase but since that time I have discovered others who have taken the same plunge as myself and we all agree that it was worth the huge outlay. The other evening, when youngest son and I were studying the engine of his car, in a dark lay by, after a breakdown, out came the old self winding torch and all I had to say was 'let there be light' and there was light. Now, most of my household have used it at a time for some purpose and the greatest benefit of having it is that I know I never will need to worry about running out of batteries and that when the lights do go out, I'll not end up like Moses did, according to dad.

But I guess dad wasn't so far off the mark with his joke after all, for the truth is that you really only know what darkness is when you've experienced the light. Jesus is the light of the world, in Him is no darkness at all and when you experience that light you begin to realise the darkness that existed in your life before He came into it. That's why it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to go back to a life without that light and I'm suspect those who have slipped into the shadows know exactly that life could be better, for when you're in the shadows, you can still see the light. It's all about the preparations we make, isn't it, for to know that the torch to light the way is there for us and to not have the power source necessary is unwise if not a little careless. As Paul says, in his writings to the church at Ephesus, 'For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.' Let your light shine.