This Weeks column: The Lighthouse

I may tweak this before it goes to press… but here’s where I’m at right now….

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I have a new picture hanging on the wall in my office. I say “new,” but it’s actually been around for a few years in my various dwelling places.
I’m sure many of you have seen it.
It’s a picture by Jean Guichard of La Jument Lighthouse, off the coast of Brittany, France.
It shows the keeper of the lighthouse, Théodore Malgorne, standing outside the structure, as a large titanic wave explodes around lighthouse.
Many people believe the lighthouse keeper was killed by the wave, and in-fact, a co-worker assumed just that when he saw the picture today.
But in fact the keeper turned around just after the famous picture was taken and remained safe inside the lighthouse as the waves pounded down around it.
La Jument Lighthouse was built in 1911 after the shipwreck of the Drummond Castle and countless other sea vessles. In 1896 an estimated 250 people were killed during one accident near the site.
Its building was financed by a French entomologist (a specialist in insects) who almost drowned in another shipwreck.
He pledged that he would pay for the construction of the lighthouse if the work could be completed in seven years.
The structure was completed and still stands against the high winds and waves that crash around it throughout the year.
What’s most interesting about the La Jument story, captured on film by Guichard, is the fact that the lighthouse keepers thought Guichard was coming to rescue them by helicopter.
They had been in the lighthouse for some time and had sought rescue from the storm in the upper levels of the building.
Their hiding place was quickly erased as they watched the waves crash through the glass and wash many of their belongings out to sea.
They remained hopefully that help would arrive, and were certain that Guichard was the safety they had waited for.
But in his true time of need, Malgorne realized the only hope he had was to return to safety of the lighthouse as the waves crashed around him.
I can relate to Malgorne in many ways.
Beyond my fascination with lighthouses, I too look for safety and hope in things outside the arms and reach of God.
Things go wrong in my life and I start to think, “Maybe this isn’t where God wants me to be. Maybe it’s time to move elsewhere. Maybe His protection has left me to die at sea.”
And then I start looking for other means of safety and protection.
But those distractions can be deadly.
As soon as I walk out from under His protection I realize all that He is really protecting me from.
I see the winds and waves that threaten to completely wipe me out and realize — the only safety is there in His arms.