SCRIPTURE: Mark 5:20 (TM)
The man went back and began
to preach in the Ten Towns area about what Jesus had done for him. He was the
talk of the town.
STORY:
I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very sea-sick. If
there is a time when a man feels that he cannot do any work for the Lord it is
then -- in my opinion. While this man was sick he heard that a man had fallen
overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help to save him. He
laid hold of a light, and held it up on the porthole.
The drowning man was saved. When this man got over his
attack of sickness he was up on deck one day, and was talking to the man who
was rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down the
second time, and was just going down again for the last time, when he put out
his hand. Just then, he said, some one held a light at the porthole, and the
light fell on his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled him into the
lifeboat.
It
seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man's life.
If you cannot do some great thing you can hold the light for some poor,
perishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and delivered from destruction.
Let us take the torch of salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up
Christ to the people as the Savior of the world.
OBSERVATION:
The experience of nearly
drowning must be a horrible experience. To be so close… just a handhold away…
just beyond being able to climb aboard… almost there, but not quite… does
anyone see… does anyone care… is there a light that could guide… Let the lower
lights be burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling
seaman You may rescue, you may save.
That sense of being cut
off… going down for the last time… gasping for just another breath… struggling
against the forces surrounding us… unable to swim… unable to keep one’s head
about water… Let the lower lights be
burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling seaman You
may rescue, you may save.
We live in a very crowded
and busy world. It is filled with “drowning” people. They are so close to life…
real life… and they are so far away, but they are not beyond our reach. We
cannot do everything, but we can do something. We might not be able to dive in
and swim out to rescue them… but we are able to hold up a light… a shining
light… a clear beacon showing the way to safety… Let the lower
lights be burning, Send a beam across the wave, Some poor aching, struggling
seaman You may rescue, you may save.
Such was the man in the Mark
story. He was drowning in a crowd. The crowd was demons of unimaginable
portions. Could those demons be of his own making? Could they be creations from
his past? Could them be ramifications of a misspent childhood? This one thing
we do know … they could destroy him. He needed to be rescued and a light came
into his life… it was the light of Christ.
He found life and had to tell
everyone what had happened to him because of the one who rescued him.
Each of us has been rescued
from something in our life… something that could have destroyed us… something
that could have caused us to drown… something of demon-dimensioned (for demons
come in various sizes and in various shapes). And then a light came and changed
it all. Changed us. We have to tell. You won’t believe me, but … and the story
is shared. People hear. Lives are changed. And the world is less dark for
someone else. Yea, God!
A beacon in a dark world
brightly shines and another poor struggling “seaman” is rescued.
PRAYER:
God, help us to keep our
lights lite and our hands ready to be extended to those who might be drowning
around us.
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