The Tunnel

Light behind you vanishes as you squeeze past the boulder and make a sharp left turn. You're in the tunnel.
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Darkness settles around you like a cloak and the only light is five hundred yards away, a bright hole punched in black velvet.
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You take a step, then another and feel the firm earth beneath your feet. Water trickles like music from somewhere on your right.
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You fix your eyes on that circle of light and begin to walk. Pebbles crunch under your shoes and the darkness becomes comfortable, almost pleasant. This isn't so bad after all.
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Were you to hold your arm straight in front of you and try to measure that dot of light, it would be no larger than an inch. But with every step, the light seems to grow larger.

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Soon the opening is so clear you can see beyond the tunnel-- a few leafy trees and a pinprick of blue sky. The light becomes so bright that it illuminates part of the tunnel. For the first time you notice the black slime oozing down the walls, a snake curled against a rock, and piles of rubbish here and there.
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Urgency grips you. Your heart speeds up. The tunnel no longer feels pleasant and cool. You see it for what it is and your stomach turns. You only want out. Out through that opening. Out into that warm, golden light where the dark moving shapes will be nothing but harmless memory.
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The faster you walk, the wider the opening appears. It's so much larger than you'd thought, so much more inviting.
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You want nothing this tunnel has to offer. Everything you want is in that light and you break into a jog until at last you burst through the opening into a warm sunny day, brilliant with color you'd almost forgotten existed.
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Seeking God is like that. We begin our Christian walk delighted that we can see the light of God. Yet He seems so far away, so unattainable. He's a small God to us and we're unaware of the many facets of his character, his nature, his power. Slowly we move toward him, growing more comfortable in this walk, scarcely bothered by the darkness around us.
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Yet the closer we draw to God, the bigger He becomes. As our perspective changes, it seems as though He does too. With our eyes on the Light, we press on, marveling as the God we thought we knew continues to amaze us. As our understanding grows, so does our longing to get closer, to know more, to bask in the glory of that Light.
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As the brilliance of that Light spills over us, we begin to notice things that hadn't bothered us before. Sin and worldliness become repulsive. Moral dangers, addiction traps, and deceptive enticements become obvious snares, offensive and distracting from our purpose. We see this world for what it is and a hunger we've never known before consumes us.
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Nothing in the tunnel holds any attraction for us now that we've felt the warmth, sensed the beauty of that Light. Desire for more of it takes over and all attention is focused on that moment when we step from darkness and all we know is Light. And to think, we once thought of it as a pinprick.

If your God still seems like a hole punched in black velvet, keep walking. The light only grows bigger and brighter the closer you come.
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