Light at the End of the Tunnel

            I’ve traveled to many cities both in this country and others.  Every culture has their own unique way of navigating through the idea of traffic.  Driving in Jamaica for example, one would think that the apocalypse had occurred and every driver was fleeing for their own lives from zombies or from the radiation of a nutron bomb.  I swear they all have concrete blocks strapped to their feet and the brake pedals all removed from each late 80-90’s vehicle that blows by you at the speed of light.  After driving from Montego Bay to Negril, I not only learned the definition of a “passing car,” but also how people successfully swerve to dodge chickens, goats, and road construction crews, and oncoming traffic alike.  It is simply incredible.  There are near miss disasters everywhere you look.  I don’t know how people aren’t killed in accidents constantly.  

            For those of you who have ever driven into the city of Pittsburgh, you know exactly what I’m writing about.  The famous “tubes” are a dreaded natural phenomenon that baffles every human psychologist on the globe.  I haven’t found anywhere else on earth where the same puzzling traffic nightmare occurs.  Each and every day, traffic becomes congested a few miles ahead of the entrance to the Squirrel Hill Tunnels.  It is awful.  Stop and go traffic inches their way closer to the tunnel in a heated frenzy of fed up oncoming drivers.  Once you actually get into the tunnel, it lightens up.  After proceeding through the tunnel there is no traffic to be seen, and you can drive as fast as you need to go.

            My own personal perspective and opinion of the matter has to do with the traffic signs.  I’ve gone through tunnels all over America and no other city has such an array of warning, danger, and hazard signs posted right before a tunnel.  In most tunnels, people simply approach them like a normal human with no anxiety or distress, and sail right on through.  For Pittsburgh drivers, we have to post twenty danger and warning signs to freak people out and make them slam on the breaks before entering.  If you actually take the time to read all the signs, there is no way you can proceed at normal speed.  It is a nightmare in the making.  It is a wonder of the natural world.  I simply don’t get it.

            During a recent trip through the tubes, I noticed that Pittsburgh had now upped their game.  My wife was driving (no worries on driving hazards here), and I saw how ridiculous it was that there was a sign slapped on the tunnel wall right inside its entrance telling you how far each end was. How ludicrous, I thought! We now have signs posted even inside the tunnel walls to allow people to know the distance you are to each end?  I saw the signs, realized what they were, and I drove in a puzzled state.  I thought it totally silly why we would need to waste the metal on posting signs that nobody could read while driving at normal speed.  Furthermore, the tunnels are one-way traffic, and so turning back is not an option.  Why on earth would we need to post distance signs to a tunnel that is already a huge traffic nightmare?  Are we asking to make the problem worse by making even more unnecessary signs to slow drivers down through this bottleneck?  Do we really want to shoot ourselves in the foot and make matters worse?  My only logical conclusion is that these signs would be for only pedestrians, though I have never seen one in this tunnel.  

            Could it be that the signs would only serve the purpose in an emergency in which people would all have to get out of their cars and walk to the nearest end?  That seems to be the only fitting explanation I can come up with for why the signs are needed.  There is no real sidewalk through the tunnel, and you would have to be crazy to try to foot it through.  Cars fly right on past the tunnel walls, and I wouldn’t try to walk through on one of my best of days.  Even in this logical conclusion and in the midst of an emergency, I wondered why you wouldn’t just use your head, take a look at which end looks closer, and run in that direction.

            The thought hit me.  What if it was night, and you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel?

            Oh, the classic cliché of “the light at the end of the tunnel.”  

            How many of us have been in that exact place in life?  We have all faced a moment that we’ve thought about it.  We’ve all been in that tunnel.  Sometimes things get so hard and difficult that we often don’t see the light. We find ourselves in a crisis of life and don’t know which way to turn to escape the hard place we are in. I have felt this way many times. One of them was especially hard on me.

            In 2006 my first wife was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  It was an incredibly hard time period for us both.  With the onset of a host of doctor appointments, tests, and new heath requirements, things got a little crazy at home.  I was still working a job when I could, and when I was finished, I had to take care of everything on the home front.  We prayed for a healing each and every day.  It was a place of mental and emotional torment, as we had no real deliverance from this sickness other than the Lord’s hand. Medical intervention was not working.  Our situation was complicated with the responsibility of raising two young boys at this time as well.  The physical limits of exertion were tested to the limits.  It was a really difficult time of life.  After she passed, things got even worse.  I was holding two boys as solid as I could. I not only had to process my own grief, but I had to process theirs as well.  They needed me unlike any other time in their short, young lives. The responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, getting one boy ready for school, taking the other one to work, trying to work with a toddler, getting a boy off the bus, helping with homework, cooking supper, washing clothes, folding and sorting clothes, doing baths, and reading bedtime stories was enough to wear out Iron Man and the whole Avengers team.  Many nights I would finally get to bed after taking care of the last load of laundry and lie down too pooped to even sleep.

            It was a very difficult time.  I often wondered when I would see the “light at the end of the tunnel.”  

            When you are in the proverbial “tunnel,” there is no knowledge of how long it will be until you see that light.  Could it be a week?  Do we have to wait months?  Do I have the strength to endure this for any longer than that? Frustrated, we scramble, search, and wonder when the end will come.  When we are in the tunnel for a short duration, we sometimes try to bulldoze through in our own strength.  Sometimes we have the physical endurance to push through. Sometimes we make it. Sometimes we see the light, press the pedal and hammer down, and once the fresh air hits us we quickly forget what it was like when we were trapped within.

            Now I think of those posted metal distance signs in the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.  There are some of us who are forced to abandon our vehicles in the midst of crisis and confusion and hoof it.  In the heat of the moment we might wonder which way to go, which direction is the shortest and quickest way out.  We might be scrambling for answers, searching for an explanation why we are finding ourselves in such a predicament.  If we could only see the signs, read the info, understand how much longer we have to endure to get through.  The trouble is, in the darkest night there isn’t enough illuminating light on our situation to know the distance to the end.  It is too dark to read any signs.  We are forced to be in a place where we must rely on the Lord’s hand alone while we walk through the tubes.

            Although some of us have heard this a thousand times, I want to recite it once more.  In this scripture there is medicine to the hurting soul.  The words of the Psalmist not really his own, but are actually the inspired words of our Lord Himself.  They are health, life, liberty, and a soothing medicine to those who need it most.  This is a living breathing passage… please read it with the impression that you are rubbing ointment on very weak and sore muscles as you are searching for relief.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or tunnel with no light),

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

            You may be in the darkest tunnel right now. The darkest of night may be all you know and see.  You might be at your wit’s end, at your last grip, possibly at the very end of your rope.  There is good news though… you are not alone.

Hebrews 13:5b-6

…be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

            Was I in a tunnel in my own situation? It was a tunnel a hundred times deeper than I ever wanted to travel.  Was I hurting?  Was I troubled?  Was the way confusing to me and did chaos surround?  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.  I know your pain.  I know how hard things can become.  I know that often things don’t make any sense.  I’ve been confused,  as I had stood in my integrity while watching other people who aren’t Christians seem to have an easier life.  Why was my life such a mess and why did I have to be suffering so much?  I get it.  I’ve been right in that spot.  I know exactly how it feels.  

            Was I alone in my plight?  Never for one minute.

            Nobody knows how long it will be until you see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The good news is that Jesus is right there with you, and He is the light of the world.  If Psalm 23 is really true, (which I will testify to with all my life), then it really doesn’t matter if you can read the distance signs on the walls.  It doesn’t really matter which end is closer. Unfortunately, those signs you can’t see are useless anyhow.  In fact, life is only a one-way journey, and you can’t go back to the beginning of the tunnel even if you wanted to. There is only one direction to walk and travel. 

            In a positive thought, you really don’t need to worry about seeing the “end light” because there is a far greater light standing right there in the midst of things embracing you.  He is the God of the proverbial tunnel and will not leave you or forsake you.  If He is the God who can lead you through “the valley of the shadow of death,” then He can take you in His comfort and lead you in your “now.” There is no night too dark, no tunnel too far.  He will never grow tired or weary of holding you through your life situation.  Reach out to your Shepherd.  Take his hand.  Enjoy His presence.  Allow His oil to be anointed on your head and life.  If you do this, (and trust me because I know from experience), there is no place in life that you can be in that God will not show you peace.  He is the Prince of Peace.  Let Him be the comfort you find in your tunnel.  Take His hand today.  It’s a game changer.

Chuck Carr