It seems that wherever we look around this big, brown, sunburned country, the driest continent on earth, we see towering clouds of smoke from massive bushfires.

In many places the smoke from these fires has turned daylight to pitch black.

The eerie and unnatural orange-red skies are reminiscent of some sci-fi films and are most definitely not the hard, blue summer skies we are accustomed to in southern Australia.

For me one of the most enduring pictures to come out of the growing library of news footage about the fires, is from the bizarre situation in Mallacoota.

In the middle of the day the sky was turned to the darkest of dark.

There was no power to the town so no street lights and no house lights.

But in the unnerving darkness a light shone brightly, a shining sign of life, a sign of defiance, a sign of obedience.

The people in one particular house had followed their bushfire preparation rule-book and had bright battery-powered lights ready.

This household was well-prepared, the scary darkness had not overcome them.

John 1:4-5 speaks about light and dark, it says; 'In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

This text tells us about an extraordinary light, the 'light of life' given to the world at Christmas to shine into the darkest of dark places and situations.

This 'light of life' is Jesus Christ who is called 'the light of the world'.

The good news for all of us as we begin a new year and a new decade is that this light is there for all, to guide and lead us out of the darkness.

So, like the Mallacoota household who followed their fire plan instructions, we too need to follow Jesus' instructions, His word of life.

Pastor Geoff Schefe is a pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Horsham and represents the Horsham Christian Ministers Association.