Remote

There are many hardships we face in life. Some worse than others, Some of our "struggles" are not really struggles at all but rather, they are CALLED struggles when things don't go our way. For example, the remote control for our television is failing. The on/off button no longer works, probably due to over-use. Our "struggle" is that now, we actually have to get up and take three steps to activate our flat-screened, brain-drain machine. I know! How will we ever be able to survive, right?!? I think I will somehow manage to make it through but my wife is another story. Fortunately, God has granted me SOME wisdom so I won't be writing about my wife's love for the Hallmark Channel . . . at least not today. ;)

Instead I will be writing about a different kind of "remote" - our trip to a remote location in Michigan's Upper Peninsula - Big Bay Lighthouse.

I began typing this story from our room, which can be seen in the picture above. Our room is behind the two big windows you can see on the first floor. It was the room where the light keeper used to stay.

The light keeper had a lonely job. And talk about remote! The lighthouse we stayed at was built in 1898. And it is STILL pretty remote today.

The light keepers job was to keep the lighthouse light lit. He had his kids lug 75 pound cans of fuel up the hillside from a pier further down the coast and then up a hill to the lighthouse. Yikes! His entire job was to keep that lamp lit. Many lives depended on his doing that job.

Our job as Christians can be difficult too. Although we don't have to carry heavy fuel cans, we DO have a burdensome responsibility -  God with some equally life-saving tasks.

We are to Love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The light keeper loved his family and shouldered his responsibility well. So must we.

We are to love others and to sacrifice our own needs for the sake of others. The light keeper kept watch and always made sure he completed his tasks so that those out on the lake on a stormy night would not run aground and perish.

We have a responsibility to read and understand God's Word. Not simply to read it but to put it to good use, shining the light of Jesus for all to see. The light keeper always made sure there was plenty of fuel on hand so that the light he was watching never went out.

There are so many parallels to draw between light keepers and Christians. Let's just leave it at this. We ARE to shine our lights brightly into the darkness that surrounds us. We are to fuel that light with His Word and through prayer and worship. And we are so serve others sacrificially, with little regard to self.

We might feel all alone sometimes . . . remote. But we are never alone and who knows the lives we might touch through our testimony and through our sacrifice and love. Shine your light today!

"14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16

City On A Hill - Casting Crowns