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Have you visited a lighthouse lately or in recent years? Was the structure the original one? Did you climb all the way to the top? Do lighthouses, with their old Fresnel lenses shining into the dark stormy nights at sea, remind you of God’s bright light shining in the darkness of this world?

Lighthouses seem to be everywhere, but most of them are no longer in use. Even though technology like GPS has replaced lighthouses, making them relics, many lighthouses are still maintained for historical reasons.

My Savannah Sweethearts and Seaside Chapel series are set on the coast of Georgia, where there are old lighthouses for tourists to visit. Here is how the Tybee Island lighthouse looks like now. The photo you see above is not the original lighthouse, though. That’s the lighthouse version rebuilt in the 19th century. The original 18th century structures had been destroyed by storms and rebuilt before this final one.

The first structure was constructed in 1736 by the new residents of Savannah, under the direction of their leader, General James Oglethorpe. If I remember correctly from my history books, it was a herculean effort to construct the lighthouse because Tybee Island is, well, a barrier island. The land is, well, sandy soil.

After much hard work, the lighthouse didn’t last long. The storm of 1741 took it down. I don’t know how many times they had to rebuild the lighthouse, but eventually, we have that lighthouse above, constructed after the American Civil War.

Imagine working so hard to build a lighthouse on shifting sand, and then to see your work washed away by the ocean. Hmm. Aren’t there some Bible verses about such a thing?

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. – Matthew 7:24-27

I think the spiritual lesson there, as we all know, is to be sure that our foundation is in Christ and Him alone. Only God is reliable. He is the Solid Rock of Ages!

In Christ,
Jan Thompson