"For nearly two centuries lighthouses have beamed their silent warnings out across the rocky shoals. They have weathered the storms of nature and stood tall through the storms of war. Early in this century about 850 beacons marked United States shorelines, piercing the night with a hand-lit glow magnified by rotating prisms. Then with each decade's navigational advances, the Coast Guard automated the works and evicted keepers. Our last manned tower is scheduled to go out of service in 1990. No structure seems more vulnerable than a lighthouse abandoned to the elements and vandalism. Some stand in ruin, others on eroding promontories barely stand at all. Citizens groups have mobilized as a new kind of keeper, licensed by the government to restore favorite lighthouses and open them to the public." (Life, August 1987).

When Jesus was upon earth He said, "As long as I am in the world, I am he light of the world," (John 9:5) but He has gone back to heaven. Before He went He said, "Ye are the light of the world." Men cannot see HIM, but they do see US. If our light goes out or is dim, it will leave men about us without a guide and beacon.

The story of the "lower lights" is familiar. Years ago at the harbor in Cleveland, Ohio there were two lights, one on either side of the bay, called he upper and the lower lights. To make a safe entry into the harbor, the incoming ships must see both lights. One wild, dangerous, stormy night a steamer was groping through the darkness looking for the harbor. The captain and pilot peered into the darkness and the pilot asked, "Do you see the lights?" "No," was the anxious reply. And then, "Ah, there it is, but—where is the other? I see the upper lights, but where are the lower?" They had passed the lower lights and were too late to turn around in the raging storm and they crashed upon the rocks and sank. Very few escaped and most of the unfortunate passengers perished in a watery grave.

Why did they perish? The lower lights had gone out. The upper lights were all lit, but the LOWER LIGHTS had failed. The UPPER LIGHT is all right. Christ is the Upper Light and He is never out. We are the lower lights here upon the earth. Is your lamp lit today? Will your life point men and women to the Upper Light and safety? Let the lower lights be burning!

"Brightly beams our Father's mercy
   From His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping
   Of the lights upon the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning!
   Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting, struggling seamen
   You may rescue, you may save."