I was reminded recently of a story regarding a naval vessel. Some say this is an urban legend other say it was a British naval vessel. Whatever the case, it really spoke to me.
The story goes that there was a naval vessel on the sea. The young man watching the radar reported to the captain that there appeared to be something heading right for them. The Captain immediately got on the horn and demanded that the other vessel change its course. They responded back by requesting that the captain change his course. This irritated the captain. He responded back, “This is the captain speaking and I demand that you change your course.” They calmly responded back, “Yes, sir, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to change your course.” By this point, the captain was angered and yelled back, “I repeat I’m the captain of a naval carrier and I have several battleships surrounding me. If you do not change your course, we’ll be forced to take action.” The second vessel again calmly responded “We are a lighthouse. It’s your choice.”
As we share the gospel, there are times when we must change our course. It could be for a number of reasons. We may have gotten comfortable with what we are doing. We may have gone as far as we can, literally worked ourselves out of a job. Sometimes our lighthouse, Jesus Christ, wants us to reach out to others who haven’t heard the gospel.
As we go from recording one series to another, I’m seeing a pattern of God changing our course. Women of the Bible gives hope for those that are immigrants, been trafficked, or simply feel like they aren’t worth much. The Heritage Project reaches out to a different group – the people of North Africa.
As we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit to reach more people groups with the Gospel, may we ever find ourselves heading the call from our lighthouse. Instead of refusing to change course because of comfort, may our hearts always be open, and our spiritual ears listening for the direction that God wants us to go. May we ever been attempting things that can’t be accomplished with our strength, but things that without God we can’t do it.
Our lighthouse is always there – always shining the way. We just have to be humble enough to head his voice.