John 12:35 - Marco! Polo!

Do you remember playing "Marco Polo" in a swimming pool? The kid who is "it" squints their eyes shut. It's essential to squint them shut to demonstrate that they are fully closed. Then the designated kid will call out "Marco" and all the other kids have to immediately call, "Polo," but moving before the squint-eyed kid tags one of them. The one tagged is then "it," of course. No one ever explained what the game had to do with the world explorer from Venice.

When I was a kid, I sometimes amused myself by trying to find my way around the house with my eyes squinted shut. My mom probably put a stop to it so I wouldn't knock over a knick-knack (or is it knick over a knock-knack?). So I would take my game outside. Did you ever try to run at full speed with your eyes closed? I could only run a few feet. Even without a warning from a responsible adult, I knew I might run into something.

My brother tried to ride his bike with his eyes closed and ended up chipping a tooth... and leaving a dent in the hood of a neighbor's car. A rather unhappy neighbor.

Aside from childhood games and antics, we don't want the world around us to be dark. Walking in the dark can end up with painful--if not destructive--consequences. 

Succinctly put, "he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes." (John 12:35, New American Standard Bible, 1995)

Jesus offers the solution: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12 (NASB95) 

Father, we need to know where we're going. We don't ask to have the entire future mapped out for us. But we need the light of Your Son filling our lives so we know how to take the next step." In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.