A lighthouse is a tower or other kind of building which guides ships to safety so that they can negotiate dangerous coastlines and avoid hazards. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals or reefs and safe entries to harbours, and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational systems, but these can often be found in a number of coastal towns.
This lighthouse is off the Northumbrian coast:
Rend Collective’s song ‘My Lighthouse’ (the video is worth watching for the scenery as well as the song!) takes this theme and sings of God being like a lighthouse who will never leave us and who is ‘the peace in my troubled sea’ who will ‘carry me safe to shore.’
‘In my wrestling and in my doubts
In my failures You won’t walk out
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea
In the silence, You won’t let go
In my questions, Your truth will hold
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea
My Lighthouse, my lighthouse
Shining in the darkness, I will follow You
My Lighthouse, my Lighthouse
I will trust the promise,
You will carry me safe to shore
I won’t fear what tomorrow brings
With each morning I’ll rise and sing
My God’s love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea
Fire before us, You’re the brightest
You will lead us through the storms.’ (‘My Lighthouse’, Rend Collective)