Flashlights & Lanterns

​During Monday morning worship at the University of the Nations, I had this looming heaviness that I didn’t know what to do with. I didn’t have words to describe it and yet I kind of knew that it had been with me for a while. A few years actually. I was focused on trying to sing the worship song, thinking that I wasn’t somehow pressing hard into worship. The heaviness in my heart and mind started taking shape and it led me into an earnest and sincere prayer to God…

As my thoughts became more clear I began to understand the sorrow I had been carrying. I felt that I had been disconnected from direction that God had given to YWAM and from the fathers and broader family of YWAM. The image I related it to at the time was a light under a basket (Matthew 5:15). This was the source of my sorrow. 

I started sharing with God how I felt about it all. And that I didn’t know how to dislodge these feelings and thoughts. Before I could ask for help, I had a picture in my mind of a flashlight and an assurance, “your light isn’t under a basket. You’re a flashlight right now. You’ve needed to be a flashlight to do what I’ve called you to do in this season, but now what I’m calling you into next you will need to be a lantern.” The thoughts and images were indelible and unmistakable. My sorrow had faded but it wasn’t until the last thought entered my mind that I was really encouraged.

“You are a flashlight and a lantern.” This was the final thought that resonated deeply with me. 

I actually have a flashlight that turns into a lantern that has served me well on many camping trips. When I lived in Australia I would go camping heaps. Reliable light sources were vital at night (to avoid stepping on snakes or walking into poisonous spiders along a trail, those sorts of things). They can serve a variety of different purposes. Flashlights are great for individual use. They can shine far and reveal details on whatever it shine on. It’s easier to guide people from a distance safely along a dark path. The beam is concentrated and directional. You can see threats from a distance. But it’s very hard to illuminate a large area. Sometimes if you shine on a large landscape or object you don’t know exactly what you’re looking at. Cooking food can be hard and reading books can cause your eyes to strain. People certainly don’t enjoy sitting around a flashlight. However, lanterns are great for groups of people. They light up a small/large radius. It’s easier to hang and gather people for social events. It can draw people that are caught in the dark. The light is softer. But you can’t direct or concentrate the light if you want to see a specific area without walking the lantern closer. You can’t see hazardous things until you’re right on top of it with a lantern. If people are trying to enjoy the view of the night sky, lanterns can disrupt that. You get the idea.

What this meant for me, since moving to Kona, I felt that I’ve needed to focus exclusively on the local operations of the Ships ministry here. I was very used to having broad and open vision. I understood that I was going to have a more narrow focus for an extended period of time, longer than I was used to. 2015, I had been single minded trying to think long term and implicational with my part in the Ships ministry. The same for Tessa with her work in creating the operations and ministry of the Gateway office. But now as we, the Fuiava family, are preparing for a giant transition in ministry and purpose next year, God is having us look outward again and to connect in a more meaningful way with our broader YWAM family as we move to Vancouver Island to start a new YWAM base. It’s a time of moving outside of our current compartments (not a bad place to be if that’s how God is leading you) and engaging more corporately with YWAM’s Great Commission goals. It’s a season of leadership foundations and preparations for training and releasing more people into passionate fellowship and lordship with Jesus than ever have before!

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