Lighthouses

One of the most exciting parts of trips for me has been locating and photographing lighthouses. I think I appreciate the majesty and responsibility of lighthouses. But also, I love the shapes and colors they come in. You find them near the water. There seems to be so much power in the little light close to the top.

While out in the Chicago area in 1999, I set out on a hunt for nearby lighthouses. I found and took a roll of pictures of the lighthouse on the Northwestern University campus. Later that night, my friend and I were told of one at the end of Tower Road in a northern suburb. Certainly, I planned to head out there the following morning.

After a train ride, long walk and quite a bit of time spent, we finally arrived at Tower Road. I could see the top portion of the lighthouse from the train station. I was thrilled to photograph another lighthouse!

We walked to the end of Tower Road and out to a vista point. I began to take pictures of this magnificent structure. It was tall and white. The water below had a blue green color. The beach was closed on this particular day; however, there were several people on the dock below. After taking some pictures, I asked if we could go down to the dock area so I photograph the front as well as locate the sign displaying the name of this enormous structure.

We proceeded to walk down a steep hill and made our way onto the dock. I continued snapping pictures although the official lighthouse sign was not nearby and we were beginning to doubt that this structure actually was indeed a lighthouse. My friend went to ask someone looking official. “No, this is a smoke stack,” the gentleman said with a look of half confusion and half ridicule.

I was highly disappointed. It had the shape, location, colors and many other things that you would associate with a lighthouse. Essentially, the only thing lacking was the light source itself.

Do you think ship captains out at sea consider the same things? Do the shape, color and location of these tall, magnificent structures confuse those trying to keep their ship on course? I do not think that the ships get close enough to identify the building itself. Instead they simply use the light itself as a means of guiding their course. The light is evident even while they are a great distance away. A building cannot be a lighthouse simply based upon shape, design, color, or location. A lighthouse is a lighthouse if it has a light.

Do we ever function like this? It is easy to take on the shape, color and location of a Christian. We may look and seem like a Christian to those stopping by to observe and “photograph.” But, do we serve our real purpose? We were designed to be a light of the world (Mt. 5:14), a light to the nations (Is 42:6, 49:6, 60:1-3), to have a path which is like the light of dawn (Prov. 4:18), to have the light of life (Jn. 8:12), light of the gospel (2Cor 4:4), light in the Lord (Eph 5:8), children of light (Eph 5:8), and to wear the armor of light (Rom. 13:12).

If our light is not evident to wayward ships, what purpose are we serving? We must not be content to have only the look & location of Christianity, but we must also allow our true purpose to be fulfilled!

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 5:16)

PS-I have some great pictures of a smoke stack in Winnetka, Illinois!