Several years ago while traveling through Germany, Austria and Switzerland, my wife and I learned many important facts about living.

One experience was traveling through many highway tunnels in our coach on the 2,100-mile trip. One tunnel was nine miles long and another was five miles long. Others were shorter but strategic to our journey.

There were so many impressive sights we would not have seen had it not been for the tunnels opening passageways through the mountains. The tunnels are superior works of engineering genius built through the tireless labor of many workers.

We can learn a number of lessons about living by looking at this analogy of a tunnel. Tunnels provide us with the ability to travel through difficult places. We can count on there being light at the end of the tunnel. As we travel through life, we can be sure that with God’s guidance there can be light at the end of many of our tunnels.

What are some of the tunnels in life’s experiences? There is the tunnel of discouragement. There is the tunnel of disappointment. There is the tunnel of depression. Theses tunnels are negative and can defeat us if we do not move on to the light at the end of the tunnel.

The positive light of God’s goodness and love revealed in His creation serves to show us the way through the negative tunnels. Gratitude, kindness, thoughtfulness, and a caring attitude can be guiding lights in the negative tunnels of life.

We hear much today about tunnel vision or a narrow outlook. Tunnel vision is the focus of attention on a particular problem without proper regard for possible consequences or alternative approaches. This can happen to us spiritually when we try to go through the tunnels of life alone — without God or others.

Corrie Ten Boom, noted author and Holocaust survivor, wrote “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off the train. You stay in your seat and trust the engineer.”

Through the light of faith we can trust the Engineer to bring us through our tunnel experiences in living.

Remember — there is light at the end of the tunnel.



Dr. Curtis Coleman is emeritus dean and professor of religion and philosophy at Athens State University