True Light

This post was written by TeenPact Student Body Senator Logan Hancock of South Carolina.

As a former Florida kid, I’ve spent a fair amount of time at the beach. A few times a year, sections of the beach were roped off to keep people out. Naturally, as a young kid, the best place to play was always just on the other side of the ropes. I didn’t know at the time that there was a greater purpose in keeping shovel-wielding eight-year-olds out of a couple of 4-foot by 4-foot squares of sand.

Sea turtles nest on the beach. They lay their eggs just beneath the surface of the sand and without barriers, people could unknowingly disturb and even damage the sea turtle eggs. Eventually, the eggs hatch and the baby sea turtles will ideally make their way towards the ocean. Roughly 1 in 1000 hatchling turtles will survive to reach adulthood, and a massive number of sea turtle hatchling deaths are because they never even reach the ocean.

Hatching season occurs in the summer because it’s the season when the sea turtles can find the ocean by the light of the moon. During hatching season and after sunset, those living directly on the beach are required to have any lights in or around their home either off completely or hidden by blackout curtains. Designed to trace the first source of light they are exposed to, the hatchlings could find themselves drawn exactly opposite the only place they need to be by the light flowing from the window of a nearby home. Survival rate for sea turtles that reach the ocean is astronomically higher than for those who don’t, so the best way to help the sea turtles reach the ocean is the isolate naturally isolating the light from the moon is the best way to maximize the number of young sea turtles reaching the protecting waters of the ocean. Otherwise, they are left with nothing but artificial light and a short life.

Similarly, as the ocean serves as a source of life to young sea turtles, we as humans find the fullness of life in the presence of God. We have access to a God who gave all of himself to live a life in a world unworthy of His presence except by the wonders of Grace that comes from Him and Him alone. How can we accept His gift of life and peace when we are distracted by the artificial lights around us and end up giving less than all of ourselves to a God who gave up so much more?

In Luke 1, a prophecy is spoken over John the Baptist, likening the coming of Jesus the Messiah to the rising sun “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the path of peace” (verse 79). Jesus came not so that we could live a life following after anything else, but so that we can abide in Him.

“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” – 2 Corinthians 5:9

 We live in a world where people are told to find and give pleasure in many places. Scripturally, we are told that our goal needs to be to please the God who freely gave his life so that we could be led down a path of peace. Unless we make Christ our source of light, we will find our paths leading us to artificial light, empty of purpose and void of life. But the presence of God is true light–full of his purposes, grace, and life.

Student Body Senator Logan Hancock