Eight days for Christmas. The frenzy is all around me - the malls are packed, the music blaring and lights glowing. As the song goes, "It's the most wonderful time of the year" and I absolutely love it. But strangely, these days I am thinking a lot of 2 words that I read in Genesis 15:12 "dreadful darkness." This is the chapter in the Bible that describes the covenant that God made with Abram.The sun was setting and Abram fell into a deep sleep we are told, and then a "dreadful darkness came over him." Dictionary.com describes darkness as : "state or quality of having little or no light, wickedness or evil, obscurity: concealment, lack of knowledge or entitlement." What was so dreadful about this darkness? Was the darkness essential for Abram to hear God speak? Is it only in the dreadful darkness of our lives that we can see the flaming torch of His Light? What is your dreadful darkness as you approach this season of light? I know what mi