I’ve been an insomniac for as long as I can remember. These days it is just a nuisance. But back when I was a kid it was a frightening experience.

A good portion of my childhood was spent in Africa. Let me just tell you that Africa is not a good place for insomniacs. The night is filled with shrieks, howls, and cackles from everything from tree frogs (there is one frog that is about the size of your thumb that makes one of the loudest shrieks you’ve ever heard), to fruit bats, to all kinds of other creepy crawleys. For a boy laying wide awake at night this is not a good thing.

One of the ways to fall asleep was to read a book. At one point I picked up a book by Frank Perretti called “This Present Darkness” and tried to read it to help me fall asleep. I didn’t get very far when he started talking about Satan’s minions prowling the earth, terrorizing us humans in the forms of all manner of creepy crawleys. It took about two seconds to put two and two together and for me to realize that Satan just happened to be, at that particular moment, camped right outside my window. There was no chance of sleep that night.

The next day I put the book back on the shelf and told everyone what a bad writer Perretti was and how I couldn’t stand to read him. I never finished that book and never picked up any other of his books. I turned to light comedy, a habit I still have today.

I thought I would never sleep again and began questioning my dad about how he could walk home from his office in the dark with all that evil out there. “Simple,” he said, “There is a lot more angels on my side than on Satan’s side.” Strangely, that actually helped and it wasn’t long before I got quite comfortable being alone at night on hunting and fishing trips.

A few more talks with dad and I began to quit seeing a demon behind every little creature I encountered. But I never lost the idea that the supernatural world does exist and that’s where the real battle takes place. Belief in the supernatural world is often looked down on in our society as something only a simpleton would believe. But if you don’t believe it how can you believe in God. We need to make sure we are aware of the real battle we face.

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