First Baptist Church, Jasper
Even though it has been nearly 50 years, it seems as if it was just yesterday. It was late at night. I had just been tucked into bed and was drifting off to sleep when I was awakened by a deafening scream. I leapt to my feet and ran out to the hallway. I quickly made my way to the kitchen where I saw my mother (she was the one who let out the scream) and a stranger, a woman whom I had never met. The woman’s clothing was torn; she was bleeding from various cuts and looked terrible. In fact, she looked as if she had been in a fight. By that time, my father also had made it to the kitchen, and we listened intently to this stranger tell us a horrifying tale.
This poor woman was from the nearby town of Evergreen. She had been on her way home when she was kidnapped by two men and taken to nearby Beulah Cemetery, an old abandoned graveyard miles from anyone. These men were planning on having their way with her, killing her and burying her in the deep woods of Conecuh County. Thankfully both men were too drunk to carry out the evil deed and she was able to escape.
But where should she go? She was in the middle of the swamp in the dark of night with two half-drunk men chasing her.
She was running for her life and had no idea which way to go. Until she saw the light.
Our house was located high on a hill a mile from old Beulah. Some months before, my father had placed a security light in the yard, and that was the light she saw.
It was the only light visible for miles around. This poor woman did the only thing she could do.
She fought through briars and deep thickets and crossed a cold creek in the dark of night, running toward what she hoped would be safety. She ran toward the light.
That is a beautiful picture of the gospel of Christ.
Let us remember that it was the light of Christ that saved us.
We were wandering in a dark world of sin when “we saw the light.”
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