Happy Jack Light by Stephen Bly
Happy Jack lighting came to mind recently. I sat at the kitchen table next to the wood stove, straining to read the newspaper, and I realized a couple bulbs in the lamp above me burned out. Then I regretted not buying lightbulbs the last time I traveled to town. Weak eyes and old age make things tough to see even in good light, which I didn’t have.
We’re pretty spoiled by the lighting systems we take for granted nowadays. In the Old West, they survived on a whole lot less light than even our dimmest lightbulb. If the prospector’s cabin or cowboy’s line shack included an oil lantern, they considered it pretty modern. Most times they depended on the light from the fire in the fireplace. And maybe a Happy Jack or two.
Happy Jack Lighting
For the cowboy, the Happy Jack consisted of a candle in a tin can. I have a feeling the term came from Welsh miners, but never have seen it explained. If you’ve ever tried to read by candlelight or firelight, you’ll know why most cowboys excelled more at telling stories than reading them.
Now, the Bible says you and I spend a lot of our lives in spiritual darkness. We have been called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). In a spiritual sense, we just stumble around with no direction and trip over what little knowledge of God we chance to find. But God doesn’t intend we stay in the dark.
Why God Sent Jesus
In Jesus, the Bible says, was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it 
(John 1:4,5). Jesus is the lamp that can guide us out of spiritual confusion. The closer we draw to Him, the more clearly we see everything else. The further we wander from His fellowship, the more blurred our world looks.
Jesus isn’t some Happy Jack with a dim flicker of the truth. He is the Light of the world. To live in His light is like stepping out of a shadowy cabin into a bright noon day’s summer sun.
Stephen Bly
Circa 1995
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