Join Ups in the Dark
The airmen of World War II had to face the terrible risks of fighter attack and anti-aircraft fire. Less obvious were the risks associated with accidents. Some of the most dangerous conditions were brought on by the simple phenomenon of darkness. A twenty-year-old B-17 pilot from Tennessee described the difficulty of organizing aircraft in the dark:
Daylight joinups were easy. A predawn joinup, a low overcast that you had to climb until you were on top, sometime 18,000 to 20,000 feet and then try to join up was terrible. Scary! Imagine a thousand airplanes trying to line up in groups of thirty-six, spaced two minutes apart in pitch-black darkness and over an exact spot in the English Channel at a precise time, make the orderly, perfect formation envisioned by the men behind armor-plated desks, you get a feeling for the high risk of collision… When it did happen, two 65,000pound, four-engine aircraft loaded with bombs and 2,780 gallons of high octane made a very untidy mess.282
During my military service I was always amazed at how difficult it was to do anything in the dark. A simple task like navigating a small unit from point A to point B was challenging. Coordinating units maneuvering in the field could be fraught with confusion.
There is a parallel here to our spiritual lives. When we try to live without God at the center of our lives, we experience a special kind of darkness. Simple things become complicated. Forgiving others for their mistakes should be easy and effortless. However, without God, we get wrapped up in our own hurt feelings. Without God’s light guiding our way, we stay confused within ourselves. Our own desires and motives lead us along truly dark and confusing paths. Only with God’s light can we see the straight path that we need to be walking with him.
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
—Isaiah 58:8