Stranded in Kansas

Last week Katy and I traveled to Broken Bow, OK for a family reunion. About 4 hours into our trip our van decided it wasn't going to drive anymore - our transmission went out! Luckily we were just a few minutes outside of Colby, Kansas. We called insurance and they payed for our van to get towed to a local mechanic. Once we arrived at the mechanic, we were faced with the big question - "now what?" We sat... and we thought... and we cried... and we stressed... until we final made a decision. We would get a rental car and continue the trip without our van. Little did we know there were no rental car companies in town - and so came the tears again. A local car dealership was able to point us towards a local repair shop that also rented cars on the side, and we just happened to get the only rental car available for over 100 miles. We had to drastically downsize our luggage from a big van to a small 4 door sedan, and then a few signatures later, we were on the road again! If it wasn't for that ONE SINGLE rental car in small town Colby, KS, we would have been stranded!

There really is a great lesson in this... don't break down in the middle of nowhere. No, but jokes aside - there is a reality that every person in the world must face at some point - they are stranded in their sins. At some point in our lives, each one of us has found ourselves stranded in our sins. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned..." then just a few chapters later Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death..." At some point, everyone has been or will be stranded in sin with spiritual death sitting on their shoulders. The Bible teaches that the only way out of this death is through Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 says, "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." There is only one way out of our spiritual break down in Colby, KS - and its not a 4-door sedan like we had, but it is a loving savior who gave his life so that we could be saved from our sins.

- Kolton Ballance

Walking in the Light

If you've ever tried walking through a dark space with no light to help you see, you know that it can be challenging. you stumble over objects on the floor, you hit your shins on little things that hurt, you trip over a pile of something and your not quite sure what it is. The Bible uses this imagery of light and darkness repeatedly to convey how desperately we need the light to be able to see where we are going. 1 John 1:5 says "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." John wanted his readers to know that God is pure, unaltered, bright light, that has no hint of darkness in it at all. John goes on to say in v6-7, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His son, cleanses us from all sin." John wanted his readers to know how desperately they needed to "walk in the light" and to avoid the darkness at all costs.

Christians cannot walk in darkness and claim to be Christians. Darkness is evil. It refers to walking in the places in which God cannot be found. It means to live in a state of sin. In contrast John wants us to walk in the light, where Jesus can be found. He says if a person walks there, it doesn't mean they're perfect, but as they strive to walk in that light, the blood of Jesus will continue to cleanse them where they falter.

The question for us where do we find ourselves walking? Do we walk in darkness? Do we live in a state of sin? Do we find ourselves in places where God cannot be found? That is a dangerous to place to be. But in contrast, if we find ourselves in the light, we find God's mercy, forgiveness, and fellowship every step of the way.

So, where do you walk - in the darkness or in the light?

- Kolton Ballance