Full of stale liquor and despair, a young man decided the only sensible thing to do was to drown himself. Driving to the nearby coast, he began to swim into the ocean until he grew exhausted. Looking back, he saw the distant coastal lights. For no reason clear to him at the time, he started swimming back toward the lights. Despite his fatigue, he recalls “an overwhelming joy.”

Once safely to shore he realized the light saved his life and he gave his life to Jesus Christ the “light of the world.” “In Jesus there is life, and that life is the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).

• light in the darkness