The Finest Hours ~ a true story

I have purposely stayed away from doing movie reviews even though I have had a few opinions regarding some but I could not help but talk a little about this one. It was a compeling story that left me with a few thoughts regarding my purpose as a   Christian.
The story takes place in Chatham, Massachusettes in the year 1952 and introduces us to Bernard Webber, more commonly know to the town as Bernie, who is in the Coast Guard. As with any good story you discover that Bernie has fallen in love with a local girl named Miriam Pentinen and they are wanting to get married on the 16th of April. But this is February and the storms are fierce as the men aboard the oil tanker SS Pendleton could testify. They send an SOS to the Coast Guard saying that the vessal has broken in half with the Captain of the boat and part of the crew perishing in the sunken half.
The other half remains afloat, with 32 men on board, due to the efforts of one engineer, Ray Sybert. His knowlege enables the men to steer the damaged vessel onto a submerged reef where it can remain afloat for a few more hours buying them much needed time to be rescued. I won't go into all the details of this miraculous story; you will just have to watch it for yourself but I will spoil the ending, I'm good at that(just ask my friends) :)
Against all odds Bernie does manage to find and rescue all of the survivors but the challenge comes with trying to find their way back home. In the course of trying to reach the boat Bernie has lost his compass and has to reley on sheer experience to guide them back home. What he does not know is that the town has suffered a power outage making it almost impossible to see the way in past the sandbar. That's where Miriam comes into play. She realizes that her fiance is in real trouble and might not make it back. Miriam, unwilling to believe that, drives to the pier, points her car out into the black night and leaves the headlights on. Other townspeople, who had followed her, do the same, growing that single beam into a flood of light; that was all Bernie needed to guide him safely home.
Several thoughts were racing through my mind as I watched this last scene unfold and I wanted to share a few with you.
We are like the townspeople shining the light of Christ into a dark world that is without "power". The lost are tossed too and fro trying to find their way "home" but have nothing to guide them.  We are to shine the light by being a witness everywhere we go through speech, through action and by our walk. Without Miriam shining that light and influencing other to do the same Bernie might not have made it home and they would not have enjoyed a marriage that lasted 58 years.
I want to be that light that make a difference; I want to guide a lost soul home. I want to be a reflection of the love of Christ. There is no telling how many we can save from the darkness when we simply do our best to be the light on the shore.
If we shine our light together it will be noticed and can play a vital, life-changing role in seeing a soul safely reach the harbor!
Please note that this is a wonderful telling a miraculous true story but I would highly recommend watching it with a filter as we did due to some language.

​To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheiritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
                                                                           ~ Acts 26:18

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