When No Answers are Found
I often think about how lighthouses were built to save lives. And they did – countless lives. Oh how the stories of yore recount with pride, mariners espying a beam of light in a storm or discerning the bellow of a fog horn in the murk.
During such moments of supreme uncertainty - when ship and crew straddled the thin line between life and death, we admire within the accounts how hope was kindled and salvation was found. All because a lighthouse had the watch.
However, as we know, not all lighthouse stories had happy endings.
What really gives my heart pause is the thought of poor souls trapped on a shipwreck in a raging din, all the while looking straight at a lighthouse – maybe even spotting a keeper or two ashore as well. Can you imagine the raw despair of a storm-stricken mariner clinging to a mast or half-submerged side rail as seas and icy winds eroded his hold?
And what are we to make of the unfortunate person who struggled to stay afloat as waves pummeled and debris battered his desperate efforts – only to sink beneath the turbulence to a watery grave? Imagine, his last sight may have been a lighthouse. His final sound heard may have been the mournful blast of the fog horn above the storm’s fury.
Where is solace to be found at such fateful times?
Throughout history, lighthouses have safeguarded a myriad of humans. However, lighthouses and their keepers have unwillingly bid their fellow man farewell too. Yes, lighthouses have always shined, but they have not always been able to provide the answer many so ardently sought in their hour of need – just a faithful presence upon a sea of despair.
Still, the guardian’s watch endured – its light shone. And if such goodness was not enough on tragic occasions, we must find consolation in mankind’s earnest intentions to affect a wholly different outcome. For within such faithfulness, fortitude and peace buoy the heart once more.
Jesus is the answer. He is the light in the darkness and storms of our lives. Like the fog horn, He warns us off of the rocks of sin and beckons us to safe harbor in Him.
Tremendous photo