A LIGHT SHINING IN A DARK PLACE
“And so, we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…2 Peter 1:19.”
A few years ago, my wife and I were watching “Season of Light: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir” on our local PBS station. The evening’s narrator, the renowned actor Sir David Suchet, powerfully recounted the story of Sir Nicholas George Winton who is often referred to as “Britain’s Schindler”.
He was a young British stockbroker and humanitarian when, in December 1938, he canceled a trip to go skiing in Switzerland and instead went to visit a friend in Prague who was helping refugees fleeing from the Nazis. That visit changed his life — and the lives of many others.
Winton assisted in the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. He helped compile a list of children needing rescue and, returning to Britain, he worked to fulfill the legal requirements of bringing the children to Britain and finding homes and sponsors for them. Many of the parents they left behind perished in Nazi concentration camps.
Winton’s humanitarian accomplishments remained unknown and unnoticed by the world for nearly 50 years until 1988 when he was invited to the BBC television program called “That’s Life!” where he was reunited with dozens of the children he had helped come to Britain and was introduced to many of their children and grandchildren. Some of those he saved were affectionally called “Winton’s Children” or “Nicky’s Family” because Winton was the only connection to their parents who made the ultimate sacrifice for their safety many years before.
After airing “That’s Life”, the British press celebrated Winton and dubbed him the “British Schindler”. In 2003, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for “services to humanity, in saving Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia”. On October 28, 2014, he was awarded the highest honor of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion. His humanitarian work continues and after a long and fruitful life of pursuing what he called active goodness, Winton died on July 1, 2015, at the age of 106, yet his light still shines brightly in the hearts of others.
We were deeply touched by hearing about Winton’s life and the sacrifices these parents made for their children. It brought to mind the words of The Apostle John concerning Our Savior who shined His Light for us:
“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” (John 1:4)
Jesus promised us in John 8:12: “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.” What a glorious truth for each of us to grasp during our time!
Jesus is The Light that brings life to an otherwise darkened place, and we are His Light carriers! The Lord’s Light is intended to bring joy and peace to this fallen world. As a city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, we are to let our lights shine.
Granted, we cannot all be Nicholas Winton for he was chosen by God for his special time and place. But his life story shows what one light shining in a dark place can accomplish.
Our prayer, especially during this Christmas season, should be that the Lord will make us a light that shines into a dark place until we reach that eternal shore where Light never ends and darkness no longer prevails.