A Lighthouse Where God Has Planted You

As I mentioned last week, we sense a certain fascination with lighthouses. These lonely structures stand as vanguards, day and night. They provide important information both because they can provide a beacon of light for direction and because they have been "planted" in very strategic locations.

As His child, God has also empowered you to be a beacon for direction and planted you in a very strategic location. You are working in a department of the university which offers unique opportunities to be a light for Him.

Have you ever given thought to how the modern university is organized? Unlike earlier colleges -- where each faculty member knew every other faculty member -- today's universities are broken up into very distinct academic disciplines and departments. If you are like most faculty, you rarely find opportunities to get to know professors well from other departments. Opportunities to cross-pollinate and share ideas across these interdisciplinary boundaries are very rare.

Most of your time is spent interacting with your departmental faculty, grad students in your departments and then the undergrads (many of whom are pursuing degrees within your discipline). This is the strategic location to which God is calling you to be a lighthouse. If you don't offer to be that light -- a refuge of prayer and outreach in your department -- who will?

The natural groupings on today's universities can make for exciting opportunities to have an impact in the lives of colleagues, grad students and undergrads. One new trend on campuses today is even to group students in their dorms (or wings of dorms) based on their affinities or major.

What if Christian faculty and staff actually began to be a catalyst to change the way students think about how they approach their majors? Is there a need in your department to change the way people think? Is a spiritual perspective honored within your discipline? Should it be?

You spend more time in the vocation to which God has called you to -- surrounded by other people in your department -- than in any other endeavor. Might this be the "Jerusalem" in which God has "planted you" to bear fruit?

Scripture: John 8:12 -- 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."

Action Point: Do you view yourself as a lighthouse in your department? Are there others of "like mind" with whom you can join to pray together? Can you pool your creativity to offer light and hope to your department?

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