This time last week I had a chance to visit the old Ghost Town of Bodie, California. It was a town that sprang up after a rich vein of gold ore was found in the surrounding hills. Bodie is a state park now and unlike so many other western frontier towns, no effort has been made to restore it to what it looked like when it was a booming city. It is out in the middle of nowhere but it spang up to a community of nearly 10,000 people with hundreds of buildings. The decision was to keep what remains of the town as it was when the State of California took it over. They call it a state of “arrested decay”. It is an amazing place with so many buildings and artifacts still in place as they were found. This just might have been the most violent gold rush town and had at least 60 saloons, many gambling houses and a thriving red light district. There is a story told of a diary entry that a young girl wrote when she found out her family was going to move to Bodie. She wrote “Goodbye God. I’m going to Body”. It might have seemed that way as the newspaper reported each morning how many were assaulted, stabbed, shot or robbed the day before. But one of the buildings I looked in for a long time was the one remaining church that was there. It still had the pews lined up from the last time a service was held there, the organ off to one side and the lectern where the pastor would have preached from. I don’t know what these folks were like, but I how that they were what Jesus described his followers as: “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden”. “…let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” I wonder if those people were like a lamp placed on a stand where they could give the light of the love and forgiveness of this Jesus of the Bible. I don’t know what they did or how they shared the love and kinds of Jesus. But I got to thinking about that. Will people be asking the same questions about our lives. We live in such a troubled world so far removed from God’s love and forgiveness. Will those who come after we have finished our journey on this earth ask the same question? Were these people real light of the God who loved every person that they lived with. Those people are all gone and their fates are sealed by their relationship or lack of one with this same God. But for us…this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it. And let us be that light of the world today, with lives that will draw people to this heavenly Father who loves us and them more than anyone ever would or ever could. Go light up your world today! Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Matthew 5:14-16 NLT “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. (15) No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. (16) In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ
Matthew 5:14-16 NLT “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. (15) No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. (16) In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ