Waking at 5 this morning, I head for Eastbourne's seafront. Andy and I are filming some evangelistic videos and we wanted to shoot a timelapse sequence of sunrise.
We get there in plenty of time and point the camera East. It's dark but in the frame you can see the pier and across the gloomy water is Hastings.
Andy pushes on to another job leaving me to take photos at 30 second intervals. It's cold but invigorating, the sky is clear, the sea is still. Light is dawning and I'm praising God for the scenery when all of a sudden a golden ball of fire rises up out of the ocean... completely out of shot. In fact we were about 45 degrees out. Quite a mistake.
But here's the thing, I watched the light of the world rise 'in the wrong place' and for about 5 seconds, maybe longer, I entertained the thought: "Maybe that's not the sun."
Hoping against hope that we'd framed things right, I was even prepared to think 'Perhaps that orange light emerging from the sea is something else.' I couldn't imagine what, but maybe, just maybe, there was some coincidence at play here. This giant orb of light was a diversion. Surely the 'real' sun would rise in its 'proper' place. And this impostor would be revealed as a counterfeit.
Soon enough the orange fireball rose clear of the ocean and I had to admit: We got it wrong! So I sighed and swivelled the camera around to the right.
It's scary how committed we are to maintaining our 'frames'! I suppose we need to take a long hard look at the Light of the World, realise what's most obviously true, and re-frame our vision to fit.
The Bible calls it repentance - it's literally 'a change of mind'. It's being convinced of the glory of Christ and swivelling around your frame so that He's at the centre.
The Light has dawned, the Kingdom has come, repent and believe the good news. (Mark 1:15)
Oh dear... really sorry about that, would have on the top of Beachy Head give a better view?