My husband and I home school our 5 year old son Ishmael. Today I was reading to him from the Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, next to a drawing of a lighthouse it said, “Lighthouses warn sailors of underwater rocks that could wreck their boats”. It is amazing when the simplest explanation of something can hold so much symbolism and meaning. When we are in the thick of life, it is hard to see the danger around us at times, this is one reason having community is so important in life.
Working with people that have addiction issues can be difficult because often logic is thrown out the door when hard times come. A drug user has become so used to turning to a substance to help them through hard times, their minds are wired to reach out to the illusion of that quick fix and there is no thought given to the long term effects of that choice in the moment. Soon that one choice to fix the initial problem has snowballed into a whole new set of issues that cannot be so easily faced. Soon the storm has them crashing into the rocks, and the water begins to fill their boat...and they sink. Will they cry out for help, or go down with the ship?
The sharp rocks of destruction are hidden beneath the reef. If we don’t heed the warnings of the lighthouse we could wreck our boat. Life brings the waves, and in our community it is often the stress of starting over with nothing, finding a job as a felon, the pressure of finding a place to live when you have no one and a terrible rental history. The wind of your past intensifying the waves, as if to say, you can’t change, you can’t make it, don’t even try.
All we can do is give the hope and direction of Jesus, to teach our community to pray when the storm comes. We shine our light in the darkness and pray they will understand it. We pray that in the hard times our community will rise up and support one another, and that those struggling will point their ship towards the lighthouse and avoid the rocks.
Jesus, we pray, calm the storm and help our unbelief.
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