When the Light goes out...

 

 

 

 

What a picture this is!!!  A lighthouse built to warn of an impending storm and give out a strong warning light that signals safety onshore to mariners in peril far out at sea-- Here it is—ITSELF in imminent danger!

Just recently, I watched as our northeastern states saw seawalls crumble, houses disintergrate, tremendous property damage and loss of life keep people glued to their television sets.  Then no sooner than that, we saw mudslides, tornadoes, floods and windstorms keep the sirens blareing...earthquakes threatening to blow—catastrophe after catastrophe in every direction, everywhere!

 

Seawalls did not keep New Orleans safe from the hurricane Katrina. Most of it is now a home for feasting termites. Nor could scores of police protect our schools, our hotels, our businesses from a person who decided to get a thrill out of killing. (An almost daily occurence). Droughts, sinkholes, plagues and new viruses fill our hospitals with patients.  Threats from global warming; threats from nucleur missiles, threats from above and beneath---our attempts to stop it all are only met with wave after wave of reinforcement disasters awaiting their turn.

 

 

But notice something in that picture above: the light signal is not seen.  Was the lighthouse deserted or abandoned to it’s demise? Evidently.  Its purpose was to warn, to send out a ray of hope to fragile ships with their terrified sailors, “We’re still here for you.  Steer in our direction to safety”.

 

People ask, “Where was God?” when so many school students were killed by a gunman?

 

“Where  was God?”

Where you sent Him—away, out of our schools and homes; replaced with teaching that tells this generation anything goes; some who even  taught their students sex...first hand!  Installing paid-for alarm systems to guard our properties—not needing prayer, even over the fast foods we consume or the packages we pick up which blow people to bits.

 

Cell phones to tell  us everything we want or need to know—abortions to take care of any “inconvenient pregnancies”that might result from our “live-in relationships”, some even microwaving the struggling infant, others packing them away in carboard boxes and leaving them by the side of the road or in the summer heat of a locked and parked car.

 

 

Where was God?  Where He always was and is: watching it all. Everpresent, yet never forcing anyone to call upon Him, yet at times allowing circumstances He could instantly prevent in response to repentant and sincere prayer, to send forth warning after warning that we must always be looking for that Light (Himself) still there for us.

 

 

We do not want to hear preachers talk of morality—it’s just Old Testament, the “modern church” says. Take a sledge hammer to monuments to the ten commandments. Shield our children from hearing how old folks raised their children to experience responsibility and the rewards of honesty and hard work to obtain and provide the needs of their families—learning good manners and respect for others.

 

So what happens when the Light goes out?

Exactly what Jesus said would happen---we fight for our lives amidst darkness that the absence of Light always brings.

 

If our broken steering wheels are no longer able to bring us to shore; if we are not looking for that Light---we float like Titanics, awaiting an unforseen iceberg to ruin our planned party in the beautiful ball room downstairs...forgetting about the future mansions in heaven the King of Kings has prepared for those who love and obey Him. Or perhaps never even heard about them from now-abandoned pulpits.

 

 

Cold, cold Atlantic waters surrounded those few crowded available lifeboats that were lowered from that “unsinkable” ship.  Those who got into those few available boats quickly rowed away, knowing when the Titanic went down into the sea, they would be drawn into the undertow themselves.  Imagine the agonizing cries that filled that night air...both from sinking Titanic and the shivering, crowded souls floating in nearby lifeboats.

401ks, retirement entitlements, lovely homes,  and planned vacation cruises didn’t mean much then.  Just a Light from the lighthouse was all that mattered anymore.
 

MARY E ADAMS