[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_post_title meta=”off” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”Roboto|||on|||||” title_text_align=”center” title_text_color=”#000000″ title_font_size=”24px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
The Road Into Nowhere<\/strong><\/p>\n We were visiting my son in Las Vegas, and one evening my wife, my son, my daughter, and I decided to take a drive\u2014out toward Area 51, near the small town of Rachel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to describe just how empty that drive is.<\/p>\n No houses. Just high desert stretching endlessly\u2014mountains in the distance, scattered cacti and Joshua trees, and the occasional cow standing silently along a road that runs eerily straight for miles.<\/p>\n As we got closer, we stopped at the iconic roadside sign:<\/p>\n Extraterrestrial Highway.<\/em><\/p>\n We took a few pictures and kept going.<\/p>\n A Room Full of Stories<\/strong><\/p>\n About an hour before dark, we came near the entrance of Area 51 that was announced by another iconic sign: AREA 51\u2014WARNING: RESTRICTED AREA. DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED.<\/p>\n While we waited for darkness, half-joking about having an alien encounter, we made our way to the landmark Little A’Le’Inn\u2014the only building, let alone the only place to stop for miles.<\/p>\n Inside, it felt both ordinary and strange.<\/p>\n A few tourists. And two very odd, geeky-looking guys\u2014 Along the walls and behind the bar were shelves of souvenirs\u2014some cheap, some oddly expensive\u2014t-shirts, mugs, stickers, alien figurines.<\/p>\n It all felt like a quiet attempt to turn mystery into something you could carry home.<\/p>\n People came looking for something unexplained\u2026 But what caught my attention wasn\u2019t the place\u2014it was the people.<\/p>\n What are their stories? I talked with the owner\u2014a man in his fifties, covered in tattoos, with a hardened face and a British accent.<\/p>\n He was from London.<\/p>\n After his divorce, his wife moved their son here. Not for the desert. But for his son.<\/p>\n At first, he was guarded. He told me about seeing UFOs\u2014four times in seven years\u2014being chased by fighter jets across the night sky.<\/p>\n Then he said it plainly:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lonely place\u2026 but I\u2019m here to be with my son.\u201d<\/p>\n That was his story.<\/p>\n The Weight of Isolation<\/strong><\/p>\n When we left, it was fully dark.<\/p>\n No lights. Just\u2026 darkness.<\/p>\n We drove a few miles past the back entrance of Area 51, then pulled off the road and stepped out into the night.<\/p>\n It was cold. Windy.<\/p>\n But the cold wasn\u2019t what I felt.<\/p>\n It was the darkness. And what struck me even more was this\u2014<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t actually alone.<\/p>\n My wife, my son, and my daughter were standing right there with me.<\/p>\n And yet, the place was so desolate, so silent, so stripped of life.<\/p>\n It was not just the absence of people I felt\u2014 No ambient noise. And in that silence, something happens inside of you.<\/p>\n You feel small. There\u2019s a relational isolation<\/em>\u2014even with others nearby, you\u2019re aware of how fragile connection can feel in a place like this.<\/p>\n An emotional isolation<\/em>\u2014a quiet uneasiness rising in your chest.<\/p>\n Even an existential isolation<\/em>\u2014the awareness that you\u2019re here\u2026 but without any clear sense of why it matters.<\/p>\n It felt like standing on the edge of the world\u2014<\/p>\n peering out into a darkness that didn\u2019t just surround you\u2026 And I felt something deeper.<\/p>\n The darkness wasn\u2019t just empty.<\/p>\n It felt threatening.<\/p>\n Like something essential was missing.<\/p>\n No meaning. Just\u2026 absence.<\/p>\n When Light Enters the Story<\/strong><\/p>\n Without even trying, my mind went back to the opening of Scripture.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning\u2026 God created\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd God said, \u2018Let there be light.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Light didn\u2019t just appear.<\/p>\n God spoke it into the darkness.<\/p>\n He brought order. He began telling a story\u2014one marked by connection, presence, and goodness.<\/p>\n A story where we are not alone in the world.<\/p>\n Standing there, I realized something I don\u2019t often feel this clearly:<\/p>\n This is what life feels like without that voice.<\/p>\n Without God speaking light into the darkness.<\/p>\n And I thought about my own life\u2014<\/p>\n how, through Jesus, light had entered my story.<\/p>\n Meaning, purpose, connection\u2014<\/p>\n not things I created\u2026 The Man in the Desert<\/strong><\/p>\n And then I thought about the man at the restaurant.<\/p>\n He chose a place of isolation I wondered what his nights felt like\u2014<\/p>\n after the restaurant lights went out, I wondered how he made sense of his life there.<\/p>\n And I wondered if he knew\u2026<\/p>\n That there is a larger story. A story where the light doesn\u2019t flicker and fade\u2014<\/p>\n but enters the darkness \u201cThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.\u201d (John 1:5)<\/em><\/p>\n The Overlap<\/strong><\/p>\n That night in the desert was a sacred overlap.<\/p>\n For a moment, I felt the weight of the smaller story\u2014 And at the same time, I became aware again of the larger story\u2014<\/p>\n God speaking light, And I realized something I don\u2019t want to forget:<\/p>\n You don\u2019t fully appreciate the light<\/p>\n until you\u2019ve stood in the dark long enough A Question for You<\/strong><\/p>\n Where in your life have you learned to ignore the darkness\u2014<\/p>\n instead of letting it awaken you [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_team_member name=”Dr. Scott Engelman” position=”Executive Director” image_url=”http:\/\/dantompkinsweb.com\/AHM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/scott_sq.jpg” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Roboto|700|||||||” header_text_align=”left” header_text_color=”#000000″ header_font_size=”24px” link_option_url=”https:\/\/dantompkinsweb.com\/AHM\/our-staff\/” border_radii_image=”on|150px|150px|150px|150px” box_shadow_style_image=”preset3″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_team_member][et_pb_cta title=”Any Questions or Comments?” button_url=”https:\/\/dantompkinsweb.com\/AHM\/contact-us\/” button_text=”Click Here” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Roboto||||||||” body_font=”Poppins||||||||” background_color=”#000000″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”20px” button_bg_color=”#848484″ button_border_width=”2px” button_border_color=”#E02B20″ button_border_radius=”10px” button_use_icon=”off” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#E02B20″ global_colors_info=”{}”]We are eager to hear your thoughts and ideas, as your voice matters to us; 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No gas stations.
No traffic.
No cell service.<\/p>\n
A handful of locals at the bar.<\/p>\n
the kind you\u2019d expect to see in an episode of\u00a0The X-Files.<\/em><\/p>\n
and left with something they could hold.<\/p>\n
Why are they here\u2026 on a Thursday night\u2026 in the middle of nowhere?<\/p>\n
So he followed.<\/p>\n
Not for the business.
Not for the mystery.<\/p>\n
But as we talked, he slowly opened up.<\/p>\n
No traffic.
No buildings.<\/p>\n
And the aloneness.<\/p>\n
but the absence of everything that usually tells you that you\u2019re okay.<\/p>\n
No distant lights.
No sense of life.<\/p>\n
You feel exposed.
You feel unanchored.<\/p>\n
but pressed in on you.<\/p>\n
No warmth.
No life.<\/p>\n
Beauty.
Life.<\/p>\n
but things I received.<\/p>\n
to stay close to his son.<\/p>\n
and the door was locked,
and he stepped alone into the darkness of an empty parking lot<\/p>\n
A better story.
One he was made for.<\/p>\n
and cannot be overcome by it.<\/p>\n
isolated, fragile, fading into the dark.<\/p>\n
bringing life,
inviting us into something more.<\/p>\n
to feel what\u2019s missing.<\/p>\n
to the story you were made for?<\/p>\n