“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14 NKJV
From the second floor of Mt. Carmel High School, my classmates and I looked out to see the Gibson County Courthouse lights in Princeton, Indiana. During Christmas season, the Courthouse was decorated, and more lights could be seen across the miles.
It was a 12-mile drive between Mt. Carmel and Princeton.
For our first date, I took high school junior Mary Greer to Merrick‘s Drive-in for milkshakes in Princeton. Later, on our wedding day, I persuaded my best man Chuck Eichem to park my Dad’s car t the Princeton Airport. Learning to fly at Mt. Carmel, I arranged for my flight instructor Bill Macy to fly Mary and me from Beckerman Field to the Princeton airport. As soon as we were seated in a three-seat Piper Cruiser, Stanley Beckerman, who owned the airport, followed us to the plane and poured a box of rice down our backs. It was Mary’s very first ride in an airplane.
The key scripture at TTT’s 59th birthday, February 1, was John 8:12 NKJV: “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'”
And the signal scripture for Saturday, February 8 is Matthew 5:14 NKJV: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Are those scriptures conflicting? Using the illustration of the sun and the moon, the sun is the source of light, and the moon is a reflection. “Moonlight on the Wabash” refers to the river that separates Indiana and Illinois on the outskirts of Mt. Carmel.
“Give the Light” is the continuing theme for TTT Christian Youth Ministries throughout 2025.
Multiple songs have been written about the moon, including: “Shine on Harvest Moon.” Jesus frequently and consistently emphasized: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Luke 10:2 NKJV
So motivated to learn to fly, I began official flight instruction on my 15th birthday, riding my bicycle 4 miles to and from Beckerman field, well before I had a driver’s license. To earn money to learn to fly, I detasseled corn, preparing for the forthcoming harvest. I would work hour after hour to earn enough for 1 hour in a Piper Cub J-3 with a flight instructor.
If you desire to ultimately reach your goal, and mine was to solo in an airplane, no price is too high in time and talent and treasure.
When I was 16, my instructor got out of the plane and said, “George, take it around by yourself.” That moment left an indelible impression.
Transferring to Bob Jones University and their flight training program, I was required to take the course “The Preacher and His Problems,” popularly known as “Preacher Boys Class.”
The theme song: “Souls for Jesus is our battle cry. Souls for Jesus, we’ll fight until we die. We never will give in while souls are lost in sin. Souls for Jesus is our battle cry.” Those challenging words have never left me, based on Proverbs 11:30: “He who wins souls is wise.”
For 59 years and counting, the mission of TTT Christian Youth Ministries continues: “Telling The TRUTH to/through teenagers … to win them to Christ and train them for Christ … teaching them how to share their faith through their local churches, on their campuses, throughout their communities, and into their world, wherever God leads them in their future.”
As a high school junior in Mt. Carmel, “The Little City on a Hill,” God’s Word in Romans 12:1-2 motivated me to endeavor to “give the light” to my friends.
Two of my target teens made the decision to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and following His leadership, answered His call to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
Pete invested his life in the African Congo, and later in the environs of Paris, France. Don became an Army chaplain, going to Vietnam, then to Fort Knox Kentucky, and on an archaeological dig in the Holy Land.
The light from “The Little City on a Hill” ignited, and has taken the Gospel everywhere.
When you turn to God from your sins, and personally “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” you are the light of the world. Where will you shine His marvelous light?
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV
To whom will you give the light?