COMMENTS
I’m not a science person, but I’m
married to one. You can be sure that if
one of us is watching TV and “How Things Work” comes on, I’m not the one who stays and watches it! So, I found it quite interesting when I
became obsessed with how solar panels work.
Here’s how it happened….
NOTES
Last summer, my husband, James, and I
were going to visit my dad at the North Little Rock (Arkansas) VA Hospital, when we passed
a parking lot that had weird-looking covers over the cars. I commented on it, and James informed me that
the covers were solar panels. Fine. That’s all I wanted to know, so now I can
forget all about it. Did you hear? Now I can forget all about it! Why can’t I forget all about it?!
Since I couldn’t forget all about
it, I went online and searched “how do solar panels work”. There was one for kids and one for
dummies. Fortunately, I found what I
wanted in the kids section—I’d rather think of myself as childish than dumb! If you’ll bear with me, I’ll share what I
learned. Remember, I’m not scientific so
I’ll stick to the basics (which, of course, are STILL scientific).
The type of solar power we observed at
the VA collects the sun’s light with solar panels. A solar panel is made up of a bunch of solar
cells. Each one of the cells collects
light. When the sun shines on them, it
generates DC electricity (that’s Direct Current). The DC electricity is fed into a solar inverter
that converts the DC power into AC electricity (that’s Alternating Current). The AC electricity is used to power appliances
in your home. (Info found at www.energymatters.com.au) (Image found at https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/solar-energy/433607)
That explanation was simple enough for
me to get the general idea because it wasn’t weighed down with words like
“atoms” and “photons” and “electrons” like some of the other sites were! Well, good.
NOW I can just forget all about it.
Right….
A day or so later as I was NOT thinking
about solar cells and solar panels, I decided I wanted to read 1 John
again. It had been a good while since I
had studied the book and that just seemed like a good thing to do. As we all know, our God is in control of all
things; and that INCLUDES what book of the Bible we just DECIDE that we’ll read 🌝. So, as most of us do when we start
to read a book, I started at Chapter 1 Verse 1.
Then I got to Verses 5 - 7! Wow!
Let me read them to you:
“This
is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at
all. If we claim to have fellowship with
Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.”
I read on in 1 John and came to Chapter
2 Verse 6:
“Whoever
claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
Then, I came to Chapter 2 Verses 9 – 10:
“Anyone
who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the
darkness. Whoever loves his brother
lives in the light….”
On this earth where Satan has so much
power, the darkness often seems overwhelming.
Yet, God is light; there’s no darkness in Him at all. As we walk through this world, our thoughts,
words, and actions show who we are walking with. No matter what we say, if we take the dark
path, we are not walking with God. And
1
John 1:7 and 2:10 make it clear that walking in the light means that we not
only love God but that we also love our brothers and sisters. We have a holy example in Jesus, who loved
God the Father enough to obey Him and loved His brothers and sisters enough to
die for us. While He was on this earth,
He spent all of His time fellowshiping with either the Father or the people—or
both!
Suddenly, I was glad that all of that
effort to forget about solar panels hadn’t worked! Did you see what John called Jesus in 1 John
1:7? The SON! Not the
“s-U-n” but the “s-O-n”! Now I have a whole new interest in solar
cells and solar panels.
Let me repeat the explanation of how
solar panels work: A solar panel is made
up of a bunch of solar cells. Each one
of the cells collects light. When the
sun shines on them, it generates DC electricity (that’s Direct Current). The DC electricity is fed into a solar
inverter that converts the DC power into AC electricity (that’s Alternating
Current). The AC electricity is used to
power appliances in your home.
May I suggest that each believer is a
solar cell who collects energy from the Son
(S –O –N)—Jesus. Put a bunch of
us together, and we (the Universal Church) become a solar panel. Jesus shines on those solar cells and that
solar panel and generates DC (Divine Current).
The solar inverter is the Holy Spirit in us that converts the Divine
Current into AC (Active Current). The
Active Current in each of us and in the church as a whole empowers us to love
God and love each other as Jesus did.
Having trouble loving that neighbor
whose dog barks all night, keeping you awake?
Turn your face to the SON. Upset
with that relative who mistreated you?
Turn your face to the SON. Don’t
have the time or the energy to take a meal to that person who just had
surgery? Turn your face to the SON. However God is asking you to love a brother
or sister, He is also providing the power you need—through the SON!
When Jesus was here, He said, “I am the
light of the world. Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” But in Matthew 5:14, He also said, “You
are the light of the world.” We can only
be the light because He is the light.
We can only be the light when He is the One who empowers us!
The downfall to solar power is that it
only exists when the sun is up and the solar cells are facing it. To be God’s light, we must keep the SON lifted
up and our faces turned toward Him.
“You
are the light of the world. A city on a
hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people
light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light
shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in
heaven." --Matthew 5:16
