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Nags Head

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Off the Atlantic coast is an island named Nag's Head. Fascinated with the name, I learned this story:

In an earlier century, land pirates on the island had struck upon an ingenious plan for wrecking ships they wanted to plunder. A lantern was tied around the neck of an old nag they owned. As she was led across the sand tunes at night with the burning lantern swinging from Her neck, ships out in the ocean often mistook what they saw for another ship. Unwary as they were of the nearby Bland, they sometimes ran aground and became immobilized. The deceitful pirates could then proceed to heir plunder.

By striking contrast, Jesus is the true Light. There is no deceit in him for those unsuspecting ones, sitting in darkness, who see his light. All who come into the world seeing the light may respond to-it with confidence.

In visits to the outer banks of North Carolina, I have been fascinated both by the lighthouses and by the decaying hulls of wrecked ships along the shore from earlier centuries. Actually, it seems strange that both kinds of tourist attractions should be there together. The, lighthouses were intended to keep the ships from wrecking. It would appear that either the lighthouses had sometimes failed or the ships had sometimes ignored their light.

Jesus is the light of the world! Yet, his light and his promise are only to those who follow him. Battered ships driven in the storm may spurn the lighthouse and be shattered and scattered on the rocky shoals. Or the good news that battered ships in the same storm may look to the lighthouse, follow its beam, and find themselves safely in the refuge of the harbor.