Let Your Light Shine

As you might imagine I am an all or nothing kind of girl. I jump into the pool. I sell almost everything I own to go on the road. So it shouldn't come as a big surprise that when I decided to follow Jesus 15 years ago we chose to no longer celebrate Halloween. We shut down shop. Taught our kids why we didn't celebrate it and did what many Christians do. Shut the light off and pretended not to be home.

then one year a few weeks before the holiday I heard one of my kids explain to a friend that it *was the devils holiday* hmmm. Yeah.
note: this does not win people to Christ.
I cringed. Knowing full well this now sounded like a judgement.

for the record it is not.

It was a personal family conviction to choose not to celebrate. As a Christian family we decided very early we would no longer participate in that stuff ... And if you're curious why you can read a few of the reasons here:
( http://theonlinedisciple.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/ten-reasons-why-a-christian-should-not-celebrate-halloween/ that's another post entirely)

That same year my husband came home & announced he didn't want to go dark on Halloween... He wanted to have a *House of Light!* He went onto explain what that meant.

Turn on every single light in your home
blare Christian music
give out the best & biggest candy you can afford
and tape invitations to church or AWANA

I thought he had gone crazy.

But we did it.
I have never regretted it.
In fact I have actually seen people come to Christ because of it! The Bible says we should be salt and Light. & not let our light hide under a bushel. That means on a night like Halloween get out of your comfort zone! But the biggest & best candy on your block! Have people text each other telling them yours is the house to go to.

and don't be afraid to invite people to church. It is the perfect time to share the gospel. They solicit themselves at your door!

& honestly if all we do is go dark how do people respond to us? I would like to encourage you if you are Christians to take a bigger step and ask all those kids dressed up to step into the light & share the love of Christ with them.

I don't think we will ever reach people telling them it's the devils holiday and shutting off all the lights. In fact I am fairly certain that won't ever leave a lasting positive impact.