She stood with the lake to her back, her voice drifted up from the amphitheater. She was dressed in a skort and a bright pink shirt. 

Once upon a time she was a teacher, now she’s the camp director and it’s her job to ensure safety and to clearly communicate rules and expectations. Just shy of seventy-five faces were looking in her direction as she laid out the ground rules of the week’s camp session. She was giving the dos and the don’ts, the places of safety, the places that were off limits. She was clearly communicating when she made the statement that caught my attention.

 I’ve never been a good rule follower, but in certain situations I like a rule, life or death for example I like a rule.

Rules ensure safety and survival. Rules ultimately are for the protection of the one who does follow them. She had just told the listening audience, also known as “the campers,” that if they had any contraband, food or phones they should turn them into her. She said very directly and clearly, “You’re not in trouble, we just don’t need those things in the cabins.” I smiled, knowing some aptly named pirate’s booty snacks had made it into a cabin earlier in the day. If the Pirate’s Booty wasn’t surrendered voluntarily, it would most definitely be confiscated during bunkcheck. 

She’d asked for questions, and like a good speaker she repeated it back for both the question asker and the other listeners. 

“Can we use our flashlight when it’s dark if we brought one?”

She answered the question immediately. “Of course you can! A flashlight is always a good idea.” 

I let the statement rattle around in my mind for a moment. 

“A flashlight is always a good idea.” I wondered if in history there was ever a time when a flashlight was not a good idea. When light shining in the darkness was ever a bad thing. My mind wandered to what I knew about the Watergate scandal of the Nixon era and its depiction in the film Forrest Gump. I thought about how it was the phone call Forrest made after seeing flashlights shining in the darkness that alluded to the exposure of the scandal. 

Most people do not even give much thought to a flashlight these days. Most cell phones have a flashlight feature. But here in this place, that camp where children and adults are unplugged a bit, a flashlight seemed the most necessary object, valued for its total illumination, and not to be overlooked. 

A flashlight has a way of cutting through the darkness to reveal what was unseen previously. 

A flashlight makes a way in the darkness, and without it one is prone to stumbling. 

A flashlight, albeit small in the big scheme of things, is powerful and effective. 

A flashlight is always a good idea. 

When the Lord Himself spoke of being light in darkness, words recorded in Matthew, I wonder if He looked forward in time and thought as he commanded them then, and as He commands us Believers now, if He was saying,

“Be a flashlight. In my Kingdom, a flashlight is always a good idea!”