Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

With Jesus, we never walk alone

It was in Boston several years ago that I first saw a genuine lighthouse.

While driving out toward the tip of Cape Cod, we stopped to explore a lighthouse that was open to visitors. Standing on the sandy hillside surrounded by wooden fencing, the lighthouse silently spoke volumes.

Positioned on a small hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, old and withered with age, that lighthouse could really have told some stories if only it could communicate.

At the base of the lighthouse was a plaque that designated it as an historical site. For more than 150 years, the lighthouse had led countless fishing vessels to safety in the remote area where it stood.

Sailors and fishermen lost at sea, storms and high tides, perils and life-threatening conditions in rough and dangerous waters … that lighthouse had witnessed it all.

What about the sailors on those treacherous storm-disturbed waters? I thought about the emotional agony that those on boats must have gone through as they thought about the possibility of not seeing their families again.

I thought about the heart-searching moments that they must have experienced as they realized that trip could be their last.

The lighthouse’s sole purpose was to provide a powerful beam of light, throwing that light hundreds of yards over the sea and into the darkness. Most important, that powerful beam was to show sailors that safety was within reach. What an assurance that must have been to those sailors and fishermen when they peered through the foggy darkness to see that lighthouse light beaming and pointing the way. What a relief they must have experienced as they came closer and closer to its light.

The boats in trouble were just following the light of the lighthouse. Their being saved from storms was nothing the sailors had done. To take advantage of the lighthouse’s beam, no rituals were required. They did not have to obey the law of the closest state nor did they have to perform a ceremony to allow them to get to shore safely. They did not have to pay money to see the bright light of the lighthouse. Nor did they have to produce a definition of a “lighthouse” before they could take advantages of its services.

The only action to be saved was to follow the light. Follow means obey, keep to, adhere to, and stick to. They just had to believe the lighthouse stood on the shore that would be a place of safely.

Faith is like that. This Christian life is much like a boat on the sea

It was as if all humanity was in the sea of darkness. There was no direction, no light to guide them to the safety of the Father. Then Jesus came. And to acknowledge that and accept that requires faith. It is simple faith when we believe that Jesus is the spiritual lighthouse for the world.

That old lighthouse I saw years ago is useless then. It stands as a relic to the past and a testimony to the advancement of the technology of the present.

But that is not the case with Christ. The Scriptures tell us that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He is a Light that never grows dim with time.

Following Jesus will provide light for our future, which is unknown. Jesus said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. ”(John 12:8)

Christ’s light will never dim ... John wrote: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5)

So no matter how intense, how devastating or how formidable the waves of this life may be, Jesus has triumphed and his victory is ours. This is the singular great promise we can receive from Jesus, the Light of the world: Through the storms and dark times of our lives, Jesus is our hope, our assurance, our light.

We can know that he is leading us for the best because he loves us the most, so we have a sense of his presence in the worst kinds of life’s circumstances. Jesus is with us and we do not walk alone.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact her at:

[email protected]