“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
It was dark (in the ER). As I lay, the wind and waves washed over me—a torrent whose spray alone seemed enough to drown a man. My mast had fallen, along with its tattered sail, each shattered by the gale. My boat was filled with water, and all was now lost. Then a tiny, insignificant light appeared in the distance, and desperately I rowed.
I’ve always loved the image of lighthouses: bold, impervious, and light-bearing against the storm—silent guides facing valiant waves. Cracked and marred, not by the storm itself, but by time alone. The waves and winds have little effect on it because it is embedded on the Rock. The oil, burning bright from within, radiates forth, piercing the darkness for any who crest the distant horizon to see. “This is the way” is spoken—not always by words, but always by deeds—showing ceaseless strength to any observer. Standing on the edge and overlooking the world, it peers, fearless and alive, so long as its lamp remains lit and supplied with the oil.
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you …” 1 John 2:27
Paintings, drawings, and photos—always noble and resonating strength—give it no true justice. Such things cannot be fully captured by ink or canvas alone.
In the past, such stormy wrath has toppled kings, destroyed armies, and sunk great navies; but never has this lighthouse been toppled by such seasonal storms.
I believe whoever truly seeks shelter will see this lamp on the horizon, and row.
And eventually, as the waves settle, one day the clouds will clear and the sun will rise above that horizon, never to set again. Such torrential events will be a thing of the distant past, and the earth will bloom anew.
I hope that somewhere, somehow, someday—perhaps on some distant, shipwrecked shore—this particular lamp was a beacon that led someone home.
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
