The Lighthouse Keeper of Cape Hatteras

In 1999, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse faced an impossible situation. The Atlantic Ocean had swallowed six hundred feet of shoreline, and waves crashed just fifteen feet from the foundation. Engineers proposed something no one had ever attempted — moving the entire 4,830-ton structure half a mile inland, inch by inch.

For twenty-three days, hydraulic jacks nudged the 129-year-old lighthouse along steel rails at a pace slower than a child's crawl. Crowds gathered daily, holding their breath. One miscalculation, one foundation crack, and the tallest brick lighthouse in America would crumble.

The move succeeded because the team trusted a path they couldn't rush. They followed precise measurements laid out weeks in advance, never deviating, never cutting corners. Each morning they returned to the same careful process — align, check, press forward, wait.

David understood this kind of trust. In Psalm 25, he lifts his soul to the Lord and asks not for a shortcut but for faithful guidance: "Show me Your paths, Lord, teach me Your ways. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long." David knew that God's covenant love — His chesed — is not hasty. It is steady, ancient, and sure.

When life's ground shifts beneath us, the Almighty does not ask us to leap. He asks us to trust the path He has already laid, one faithful inch at a time.