The Lighthouse

...Thy
 word
 is a lamp unto my feet
and a light
unto my path psalm 119...

A  battleship had been at sea on its routine mission under heavy weather  for many days.
The captain was worried about the deteriorating weather conditions so he stayed on the bridge to keep an eye things.
One night, the lookout on the bridge suddenly shouted, “Captain! A light,
bearing on the starboard bow.”        
“Is it stationary or moving astern?” the captain asked.
The lookout replied that it was stationary.
This meant the battleship was on a dangerous collision course with another ship.
The captain immediately ordered his signalman to signal to the ship: “We are on a collision course. I advise you to change course 20 degrees east.”
 Back came a response from the other ship: “You change course 20 degrees west.”
Agitated by the arrogance of the response, the captain asked his signalman to shoot out another message: “I am a captain, you change course 20 degrees east.”
Back came the second response: “I am a second class seaman, you had still better change course 20 degrees west.”
The captain was furious this time!
He shouted to the signalman to send back a final message: “I am a battle ship!
Change course 20 degrees east right now!

 Back came the flashing response: “I am a lighthouse.”
 The captain duly changed course.

 Story attributed to  naval officer Frank Koch

Many believe they can make a deal with God or order him around to get their own way.
If only He will do this, we promise to be good or do this or that.
But He is like that immovable solid lighthouse and takes orders from no one. You have nothing to bargain with.
He gives the orders, you follow or you wreck yourself.
Like know-it-all children we often stand in opposition to what our very Creator knows is best for us. Arrogance often stands in the way of our relationship to our Creator, who, like a lighthouse shines the only real light on our way.



Video: Barnegat at night by Thomas P Costello,  Asbury  Park Press