Beacon of Hope
A short story
Hope is something that the heart can grasp that hands cannot.
At least, that’s what I’ve always told myself. My hands gripped the steering wheel of my car, as I tried imagining holding onto that invisible hope.
It didn’t work.
A giant drop of water landed on my windshield, followed by hundreds of others. In the distance, a low growl from the sky warned me of the arriving storm.
“Oh, God …” I groaned, aggressively flipping on the highest setting of the windshield wipers.
Squeak, whoosh. Squeak, whoosh.
The wipers sang its annoying rain song, as I drove through sudden blinding rain. The one-lane road was tight and surrounded by trees. To be honest, I had no idea where I was. Somewhere along the Virginia coast, maybe?
I lost my GPS signal about 15 miles back.
“Where was that turn?” I mumbled to myself. Taking one hand off the wheel, I reached for my phone on the dash. No signal. I couldn’t even call Mom. “Great.”
I gritted my teeth, feeling frustrated about my whole situation. Nice job, Emma, I told myself. Apparently, I was making a habit of not considering the consequences of my decisions. Such as going on a last-minute road trip to visit my mom who lived a hundred miles away—without telling her.
“You thought it would be so easy.” I was sarcastically talking to myself. Another bad habit I picked up from God knows where. “Just leave your apartment, job, boyfriend, and run back home for sympathy?” I banged my fist against the steering wheel like the super mature twenty-four-year-old that I was.
I considered turning back.
But my hands stiffly remained on the wheel. There was something inside of me that wanted to keep going, even if I had no idea where I would end up. Somehow, it seemed like a better idea than staying where I felt trapped.
I had to wonder what God was thinking of me at that moment. How did I look? Desperate and stupid? Possibly. Yet, I knew that couldn’t be true. I was His daughter still, right? I just veered off a little on his road for me, that’s all.
“You were right, I was wrong,” I spoke through gritted teeth. “Is that what you want me to say?” Exhaling, I tried calming my temper a little. After all, I was trying to talk to God. “Look, Lord, I just need some help. Whatever you think that means, then please, just do it.”
Thump!
Ouch. I ran over a flooded pothole that jolted the entire car. My nerves jumped, reminding me again that I really was lost in the middle of nowhere with a storm to deal with.
“Focus.” I leaned closer to the windshield, hoping it would help me see the road and potholes ahead. But I wanted to be sarcastic with myself again. “Focus on what exactly? Driving of course. Not the abyss of nothingness you call your life.” I laughed like it was funny. “And definitely not on what you’re going to say to Mom when you see her.” But of course, I did.
Hey, Mom, guess what? You know that job you told me not to take? Well, I just randomly quit! Isn’t that something?
“Yeah, no.” I shook my head. “That’s not happening.” Peering out the windshield, I could make out an approaching turn. I slowed the car down a little, unsure where exactly the turn began. “Stupid rain!”
Leaning closer, my eyes landed on a moving figure along my side of the road. Is that a person? I pumped the brakes but felt the car slightly slide.
Oh no.
The turn came right where the person was walking. Thinking fast, I drove the car slightly over the double line—away from the pedestrian—while making the turn.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
“Ah!” Bright semi-truck headlights flashed in my face.
In a split second, I jerked the car back onto my lane—missing the truck by inches. Only, I jerked the car too hard. Suddenly, my heart rushed as the tires skidded across the wet pavement, dropping the car right into a ditch.
Thump, crash!
My whole body rocked and vibrated from the sudden shock. I didn’t breathe, blink, or move. In fact, my hands still gripped the steering wheel. Does it come to this? I thought. It seemed like no matter where I turned, I always ended up in a ditch. Literally and metaphorically. I rubbed my slightly sore head while choking down a suppressed sob.
“When will it end?” I finally asked. With shaking hands, I threw a fist at the steering wheel. “When will it end?”
I spoke in anger, but my heart pleaded for something else. It begged for hope. I wanted the chance to breathe again, to reach for something that wouldn’t slip through my fingers. Yet I questioned if that was possible for me anymore.
“Hey!” A voice shouted, nearly jumping me out of my skin. “You okay in there?” A dark hand landed on the window. The door swung open before I had a chance to respond. “Oh, good.” He nodded, looking relieved. “You’re conscious.”
I blinked a couple of times, confused and shocked at the same time. He was a kid, no more than thirteen. What’s a teenager doing out here? I thought. But the connection suddenly clicked. This had to be the pedestrian on the road.
“Oh, God!” I nearly pulled out my hair. “Are you okay?” I jumped out of the car. “I nearly hit you.”
“That? Yeah, I’m fine.” He shrugged. He pointed at my car. “I saw you fly right off the road and then drop in the ditch.” His eyes widened. “It was crazy.”
“Crazy is one way to put it,” I remarked.
Glancing at the car, I noticed the front end was slightly dented but everything else seemed intact. Only, it was in a deep ditch that I definitely couldn’t drive out of. Mumbling to myself, I reached into the car and grabbed my phone and coat.
“The truck didn’t stop, by the way,” the teen informed. “He’s long gone now.” He had to shout for me to hear him above the pouring rain and wind.
“That’s not surprising.” I noticed the ground beneath us was sinking, as water quickly filled up the ditch. “But we need to get out of this.”
The boy didn’t say anything, but he listened. With ease, he marched up the ditch. I slipped a few times but managed to make it back on the road. Turning back to the teen, I saw him already walking in the direction he came.
“Hey, wait!” I called, practically chasing after him. “Wait, where are you going?” A weird question for him, maybe. I mean, I was a total stranger. But I couldn’t help it.
He raised a brow and said, “I’m just going.”
“Can I call someone for you?” I offered, pulling out my phone.
He laughed saying, “Yeah, good luck getting a signal.”
“Dang it.” I frowned. “I can’t even call a tow truck.”
“Well, town’s that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction. “About ten miles.”
“Ten miles?” My mouth hung ajar. “Is that how far you’ve walked?” He shrugged.
I couldn’t believe it. Doesn’t this kid know how dangerous this is? I wanted to give him all of the reasons why he needed to turn back that second. But who was I to say anything? It wasn’t my business.
“Anyway …” the boy shifted his weight awkwardly. He turned around to proceed with his “just going.”
I wiped the rain off my face, watching him go. One half of me panicked, while the other scowled. He’ll be fine, I convinced myself. I’ve got bigger problems. Like fishing my car out of a ditch without calling a tow service. I ran my hand through my hair, feeling pulled by two different worlds.
Emma’s problems vs stranger kid problems.
I groaned internally, before following after the teen. “I’m Emma, by the way.” I was some steps behind him.
He kept his gaze straight ahead and muttered, “Danny.”
“Do you know where we’re going?”
Danny glanced at me, cocking a brow. He was probably thinking, who’s the adult here? Honestly, I didn’t know. I was pretty sure I was the immature runaway who got lost. And that’s not degrading, I told myself.
“Yeah,” Danny grumbled in response. “I’m going … somewhere.” He kicked a puddle, creating a large splash that practically soaked me. “Are you going to just keep following me?”
Great. A sarcastic teen who kicks water at me.
“I’m not following.” My tone sounded sharper than it needed to be. “I just happen to be going ‘somewhere’ too.” For some reason, I wanted to laugh at the fact that I sounded just like the boy.
Danny shook his head disapprovingly but kept silent. Trudging through the flooded street and getting soaked to the skin, I finally decided that in all my life I never experienced a worse situation.
What was I doing leaving my car? What told me that it was a great idea to supervise a boy who obviously didn’t know where he was going either? Trying not to scold myself too badly, I glanced at the sky. Thankfully, the rain had finally lightened up. Now, we just had the setting sun to deal with.
“You know, it’s getting dark, right?” I commented.
“Yeah."
“And that doesn’t … bother you?”
“Nope.”
I stared at him for a second. “Why?”
Danny chuckled while shoving his hands in his pockets. “Because anything is better than going back.”
“Oh.” I felt my heart sink a little into my gut. Suddenly, I had an idea of what Danny was thinking. “Yeah, I know the feeling …”
“Sure you do.” He scoffed.
This kid, I thought. He’s got no idea.
I opened my mouth to explain this to him, but nothing came out. I felt something pop whatever swelled up my angered heart. Exhaling deeply, I looked heavenward again. The grey clouds hung overhead with slow droplets of rain splashing onto my face. I was cold and wet, yet alive and unharmed. It occurred to me at that moment that I could have been killed in the accident. Thank you, Lord, for saving me, I silently prayed.
“Thanks for checking on me back there.” I tried approaching the conversation differently.
“It’s not like there was something else I could do.”
“You could have kept walking.”
Danny shrugged. “Whatever.”
“How far until we reach that …” I smiled slightly. “‘Somewhere.’”
“God knows, I guess.”
“Okay, well …” I slowly began, “I just hope we get someplace before it gets dark. There could be animals and things.”
“You can turn back towards town any time you want to,” Dan replied.
“Isn’t there another town in this direction?”
“I have no idea.” Danny threw his hands in the air dramatically. “I’m new in the area. I don’t even know what road we’re on. I don’t know what’s ahead. And I don’t know if we’ll get anywhere.”
“It’s okay, it’s fine.” I lowered my voice, hoping to calm him down. “I was just hoping for—”
“Hope doesn’t exist,” Danny interrupted.
“Yeah …” My voice drifted, recalling the car ride conversation with myself. “Yeah, it feels that way, doesn’t it?”
“It’s a fact.”
“Is it, though?” I wasn’t asking Danny, really. It was more of a personal question.
“Yep.” Danny kicked a loose rock down a ditch.
“Maybe it’s just our expectations,” I thought out loud. “You know, maybe we’re just hoping in our expectations too much. And that’s why we see the disappointments more.”
I thought about this for a second. Maybe I expected the job to work out perfectly. Or maybe I expected moving to a different city was supposed to free me from whatever I thought was holding me back.
“If we can’t look at our expectations, then what else are we supposed to look to?” Danny looked at me directly. His hurt, desperate gaze pierced my very soul. I wanted to burst into tears right then and there.
Instantly, I knew that he was just like me: a wandering heart, searching for hope that he could grasp onto. In some strange way, I suddenly didn’t care about all of my own problems. This was someone who needed hope.
“You can hope in the fact that you are someone’s son,” I told him, gently.
Danny turned away and mumbled, “I’m nobody’s son.”
“You’re always someone’s son.” I glanced heavenward once more, the sky was close to complete darkness. “We’re all God’s sons and daughters if we choose to be, you know.”
“Yeah.” He grunted. “Church stuff, I know that. But I have no idea how that has anything to do with hope.”
“How about a sense of purpose? Belonging? Acceptance no matter what?” I felt my heart swell up for a different purpose that I could not fully identify. “Life will always be ready to disappoint us, but God isn’t. He never disappoints his children.”
“Sure.” Danny shrugged his shoulders again.
“I’ve always imagined God’s hope like that little candle that shines in a dark room,” I continued. “Or the stars in the night. It feels small and like nothing, but somehow it still gets you through until the sun comes out.”
There was a turning in my heart, a wave of comfort that eased my tense shoulders. For a split second, I thought I could remember what hope felt like.
“Yeah, then something blows out the candle. Or clouds block the stars. Then what?” He stomped his foot in a puddle.
I need a stronger analogy, I realized. But what could describe God’s kind of hope? Something strong, unmovable, and able to withstand any situation. There had to be something.
I stared at the wet pavement we walked on, thinking of how ironic my situation turned out to be. I started off angry and hopeless, but now realizing I had hope all along.
It just wasn’t what I expected.
God was my hope. Being forever in his family was my hope. His plan for me was my hope. Whatever the outcome of my problems, I could always hope in God’s eternal plan. Even if I was walking in a deserted street with a runaway teen.
“Did you see that?” Danny asked me.
“See what?” I lifted my head, noticing how dark the street got.
“A light.”
“Where?” I squinted my eyes to see if it was a car in the distance. But I couldn’t see any headlights.
“Over there.” Danny pointed down a dirt pathway, off the road and straight through the trees. We stood there for a moment, waiting for this mystery light. Then, I saw it. The bright, moving light shone through the trees, before quickly disappearing. “Come quick!” Danny was running down the dirt path before I could make an objection. I followed after him, hoping that whatever this light source was would lead us to civilization.
Down the muddy, dirt path we hurried through the increasingly dark forest. Night birds and buzzing bugs flew around us, but we kept moving, following the light. But there was this excitement in the air.
I felt it and I knew Dan too. Together, we were reaching for something. Was it hope, maybe? There was a rush in my heart, that swept over every bleak reality in my mind. Like the breaking of the dawn, I knew the darkness had to end. In my life, and in Danny’s.
A distant sound of crashing waves and a strong smell of the salty air told me that we were getting closer to the coastline. For a split second, I feared what we would find. What if nothing was waiting for us?
But what if something was?
I think it was that very thought, that sent Dan darting down the remaining dirt and sandy path. He came to the edge, emerging from the forest, and stopped. I heard a gasp, that sent my heart soaring.
“What is it?” I called.
Danny glanced over his shoulder, a wide grin on his face, as a bright light moved right passed him. “I think I got it.”
“Got what?” I was eager to know.
“Hope is like a lighthouse.” Danny gestured his arm toward what was in front of him.
“Oh, my gosh.” I gasped, practically running to his side.
Joyful tears trickled down my cheeks, as we stood in reverence to the sight before us. The sea waves roared, and black clouds skirted across the sky, but there was a persistent moving light that stretched out for what looked like miles. I admired the sight, thanking God for the perfect representation of his unending hope.
I watched the beacon of the lighthouse reach through the darkness, overcoming every shadow and … leading the lost ones home.
“You think we’ll be okay?” Danny’s quiet voice asked. He stared at the bright light with wide eyes.
“I believe we will be,” I told him. “Because we can hope in God’s plans for us.” I wiped my happy, hopeful tears. “His plans are always good.” Danny nodded quietly, as I pulled out my phone once more. A cry of joy escaped my lips at the realization of having a signal.
Showing it to Danny, he grinned saying, “Now that’s a hopeful sign.”
I smiled while asking softly, “Can I call someone for you?”
Danny hesitated for a moment. He observed the view of the glowing light that defeated darkness by a single touch. I watched him take a deep breath and release it into the air. It was at that moment when I could see Danny grasp onto that invisible hope.
And I did too.
Then, plating himself on the wet, sandy beach, Danny kept his gaze on the lighthouse. “Call my mom. Tell her I want to come home.”
Foundation Scriptures:
“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces character and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us”
(Romans 5:3-5 NKJV)
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’”
(Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)
Personal Thoughts:
First and foremost, I would like to thank
for the wonderful opportunity to join The Lighthouse Publication! It is truly an honor to join , , , and ! I thank God and am truly Blessed.When deciding on what to write for my first short story with The Lighthouse, I couldn’t think of a greater message than Hope. Why? Because that’s what I think of whenever I see or think of a physical lighthouse. And God’s Hope is what I feel each time I put my pen to the paper and think of my King.
Jesus Christ is my Hope, through every situation. He is the Light that defeats (and has already defeated) all forms of darkness. Jesus Christ is the Eternal Lighthouse of our souls, the beacon that shines through each and everyone of us Believers.
And much like Emma in the story, we have that chance, the opportunity, to be a Beacon of Hope to others who feel hopeless.
Thank you all so much for reading, I am so excited to continue to share more stories with The Lighthouse!
If you would like to see more of my work feel free to visit my Substack: The Voice Piece
Merissa! This is soooo good! You are a wonderful storyteller and such an appropriate first piece here! The lighthouse of hope ✨ I am amazed by you and extremely proud of you! 🙌🏻
Congratulations! What an amazing God we have! 🥳 🙏🏻 ox
Wonderful story. I am going to send this to a friend who is in need and going through a rough time.