Living in Darkness

Selected blackouts...that's what we've been experiencing in Costa Rica lately. It's a process of methodically turning off the power in varying parts of the country and city in order to conserve power. This annoying tactic has been caused by less than normal rainfall, especially in the mountains. The power in Costa Rica is generated solely by hydroelectric plants. Less water...less power. So engineers have adopted this plan to try to avoid a power crisis. Hopefully, as soon as the rains commence, the crisis will go away, and we can return to normal...leaving all the lights on all the time, running three computers, having hot water anytime of the day or night...you know, all the necessities of life.

But it does afford me an opportunity to make some observations, one of which is that the only problem is not the occasional few hours without power. First, the lack of rain causes less power. Less power causes the need to use less power. To accomplish this, the city turns off street lights and traffic lights in parts of the city. This causes more accidents, not to mention the several fires caused by overturned candles in houses. There is more stress for drivers because they are having to maneuver through ungoverned streets and intersections. This causes them to arrive at home already irritated, to a cold supper because there is no electricity to cook with. I don't know yet if there have been more accidents during this time. There have been no studies to learn if there is more family conflict related to the blackouts. (Of course, on the other hand, with no television to watch or computers to play with, there may be a rash of births 9 months from now. Only time will tell about that.)

My analogy is this: The power shortage is not an isolated or contained problem. It affects other areas of life. There is a chain reaction of events. One thing leads to another. The same thing is true with our choices in life...sinful choices in particular. When there is a lacking of discipline (power)or deliberate sin (lack of obedience to God) in our lives, it causes subsequent problems...consequences directly related to the original failure. We cannot have a lack of power (obedience to God, adherence to God's laws)in a vacuum. Such a lacking or failure always leads to other difficulties. Not without meaning is Jesus spoken of as the "Light of the world" and that "in Him is no darkness at all."