My friend, my daughter and I had been walking through the most unique outdoor old-fashioned resale store I’d ever seen. I had called my son and practically begged him, his dad and my friend’s husband to come out to see it too because it had so much old metal and steel for his forging projects. Finally they agreed to come.

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By the time the guys arrived I had found this little yellow light, and it had drawn me in. I had spotted it amidst a pile of miscellaneous old tools, metals and gadgets. I didn’t know exactly what it was for, but I knew I had to have it. Plus the price was right at only six dollars.

My husband saw me carrying the light as he found me at this country store and approached me, “You’re buying me a souvenir? How did you know that light came from a submarine?” he asked when we got close.

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My eyebrows lifted to the sky above us, “That’s what this is? I had no idea!! Heck no, this light is mine. I just loved the look of it, and that it has a handle and I can carry it,” I told him.

To me, it signified the light of Jesus, which I carry around with me wherever I go, and pray that it’s visible enough to both those who know me and those who meet me for the first time.

My husband was on a submarine when he was in the Navy. We met one month before he enlisted and dated long-distance. We eloped in his second year of enlistment and had our public wedding after he returned to civilian life. Wow, this light had more meaning than I realized.

“So what was it used for in the Navy?” I asked him.

“Damage control. It’s completely waterproof and submersible. It’s used for firefighting, flooding, anytime anyone gets hurt. It’s mounted on the walls in every room of the sub. You just give it a ninety degree yank and it comes off the wall.”

Whoa, this light just keeps on giving. A damage control light. In every room. In easy reach and access. That’s exactly what Jesus is. If you let Him be.

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” John 8:12. Jesus said this to a crowd of people just after he had rescued a woman caught in adultery who was about to be stoned. After he challenged the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” (John 8:7), they all walked away, realizing that none of them was without sin.

Jesus was showing us what damage control looks like in a broken world filled with sinners. But he didn’t just rescue the woman and then walk away. “Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin,'” John 8:10-11.

Jesus shines His light of mercy and forgiveness on us first and then His light of transformation and victory over sin next. When we follow after Him, we are able to begin a journey of healing and transforming all the hurt and traumas in our lives. Then we may begin to shine the goodness that He has bestowed on us to those around us as a beacon of hope.

I’ve experienced His goodness, and I pray that I shine His light in every “room” of my life, at home, at work, at church, in the community. May my life’s example be like this damage control light, a source of light in the darkness, to shine in the midst of trouble, pain and chaos, showing that the damage can be mitigated and even transformed, by the power of God. Amen.