The Living Beacon

by: Connor Palankey


Certainty. Where is it? What is it? Is it even obtainable?

In my time of living on Earth, one of the core characteristics of existence has been that life is undeniably uncertain in all aspects. Regardless of how much we may try to choose what we would like to be, buy what we would like to own, love who we would like to love, marauding in the background is the truth of absolutely no complete control. You buy a beautiful home, but a hurricane hits. You choose a car with all of the safety measures, but they somehow malfunction. You thought you married your soulmate, but they don’t feel the same way. The delicious meal you just cooked was stolen by your dog. Something you wouldn’t want or expect to happen, but it does nonetheless. So what to do? Sulk? Hide? Nothing?

It is easy to get lost, over and over. One silly choice turns to a tragedy, and somehow a tragedy turns to a blessing. A blessing turned into a tragedy. It’s up in the air and not coming back down. How does one navigate the uncertainty? By scavenging the internet for what others have said to have worked, only for the comment section to be filled with dozens saying that what worked no longer does, or isn’t applicable to their own circumstances. You are lost in the dark, and you need something to cling to. Something to reveal itself out of the mist.

A lighthouse, used to guide ships on the rocky seas, burns brightly, removing the shadows that cover the vessel. An unchanging, ever-present light that you know will be found if you just keep searching for it. A man, no, not a man, a miracle, from Nazareth, a simple man in appearance and occupation, but containing the very essence of God internally. A man promising eternal hope, eternal light, light that shines in the darkness, and can never be overcome. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, The Lamb of God, The Light of the World. The Living Beacon.

You, my friend, in the flesh, are a vessel, and you are sailing into endless uncertainty. Shrouded in darkness and in desperate need of illumination. We are all sailing in the same uncertainty, all smothered by the night, but what if there was certainty, and what if certainty was not only just a concept, but a living being? A living being that is as real as you and I, shining a burning bright, but can only be seen with your heart and soul, and not your eyes. He is there if you look, if you sail, and keep sailing towards Him, you will never reach the shore in this vessel, in this life, but if you keep your aim, and sail with faith, then you will find you the navigation becomes easier, and in time you realize your vessel has changed, not for the worst but for the better. Your ragged ship becomes fortified, and the water you break will turn from trouble to Grace. This Living Beacon has been searching for you since the foundation of time, but you must search for Him as well.

The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

If you sail without the light, you sail in darkness, and in the darkness, you sail in vain. Place your faith in Christ, and you will find the shore.