I'll Be Your Candle on the Water...
Over dinner with (much older) friends recently, my wife and I were discussing the fact that we have known each other for over twenty years. Yes, TWENTY YEARS!! We met eight years before we got married and in August we celebrated our 12th anniversary. If you don't get thrown off by the fact that she has not aged and instead has gotten more amazingly beautiful you would see that the math comes out to over twenty years. Well, on that first date twenty years ago, we went to see a movie together at Camp Blue Haven where we were campers. That movie was "Pete's Dragon." It still reigns as one of my favorite Disney movies ever. Coincidentally, it was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. My brothers and sister took me to the historic Crest Theater in Wichita, Kansas, but I digress.
Other than Pete and his dragon, another central character in the movie was a lighthouse. I don't know if that is when it started, but as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with lighthouses. In fact, I want one. I want to move one right out here in the middle of West Texas where it is highly unlikely it will ever be used in exactly the way it was intended.
Yesterday in his sermon, Mike mentioned a life-saving museum on the island of Nantucket and how the organization it honored got started. Basically, it was an organization made up of people who wanted to help protect and save sailors approaching the island. Their slogan as it related to going out to save those in trouble was "You have to go out. You don't have to come back." As it happens, Kendra and I drove past that museum several times back in May on a visit to Nantucket Island. Oddly, in front of the building housing the museum is the light from the top of a lighthouse. I say it's odd, because it could not be of much use in that position. Then again, how much use would mine have if I ever became an eccentric millionaire and moved one to West Texas? Carrying that thought further, I wonder if perhaps our light is most effective when found in unexpected places. Granted, lighthouses exist in places of trouble and this is part of there effectiveness, but where do we exist? Are we out in places of trouble or are we staying in safe harbour? I wonder about that as it relates to how we raise our kids. Do we keep them in the safe harbour of home schooling or send them out to be examples to dysfunctional families? In our jobs, do we only hang out with Christians or do we spend time with people who may ridicule our way of life?
Just yesterday I had lunch with a friend I used to work with who has repeatedly ridiculed Christianity or any other form of religion. As it turns out, we were both late gettting back to work because we talked for over an hour about faith, God's work in this world and His desire to reconcile all people to him.
Perhaps that's our purpose. To work along side God in this world to call people to Him. Maybe I am stating the obvious, but it still seems like a lot of people are still missing the point if they think merely sitting in a warm pew will be an effective way to do that. Be a light in darkness, in times of storm- where light is absent, but needed.
Other than Pete and his dragon, another central character in the movie was a lighthouse. I don't know if that is when it started, but as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with lighthouses. In fact, I want one. I want to move one right out here in the middle of West Texas where it is highly unlikely it will ever be used in exactly the way it was intended.
Yesterday in his sermon, Mike mentioned a life-saving museum on the island of Nantucket and how the organization it honored got started. Basically, it was an organization made up of people who wanted to help protect and save sailors approaching the island. Their slogan as it related to going out to save those in trouble was "You have to go out. You don't have to come back." As it happens, Kendra and I drove past that museum several times back in May on a visit to Nantucket Island. Oddly, in front of the building housing the museum is the light from the top of a lighthouse. I say it's odd, because it could not be of much use in that position. Then again, how much use would mine have if I ever became an eccentric millionaire and moved one to West Texas? Carrying that thought further, I wonder if perhaps our light is most effective when found in unexpected places. Granted, lighthouses exist in places of trouble and this is part of there effectiveness, but where do we exist? Are we out in places of trouble or are we staying in safe harbour? I wonder about that as it relates to how we raise our kids. Do we keep them in the safe harbour of home schooling or send them out to be examples to dysfunctional families? In our jobs, do we only hang out with Christians or do we spend time with people who may ridicule our way of life?
Just yesterday I had lunch with a friend I used to work with who has repeatedly ridiculed Christianity or any other form of religion. As it turns out, we were both late gettting back to work because we talked for over an hour about faith, God's work in this world and His desire to reconcile all people to him.
Perhaps that's our purpose. To work along side God in this world to call people to Him. Maybe I am stating the obvious, but it still seems like a lot of people are still missing the point if they think merely sitting in a warm pew will be an effective way to do that. Be a light in darkness, in times of storm- where light is absent, but needed.
1 Comments:
Good sermon that!
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