Clarity

A few minutes and we are outside the city limits....excited to witness the best meteor shower of the year, one day early. The truck is parked off the beaten path and the lights go off. Suddenly, it's nature in my face. Fully aware of my surroundings, I begin to think about the probable coyote lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce. The air is cool and the sky is clear. It's a moonless night.

I ease into my environment and gaze, head shifting left to right trying to spot my first meteor. Since we are a day early, the shooting stars are sparse, but it's still totally worth it. It's the end of summer for us. The school year begins on Monday. Tonight is the last hurrah.

The vast expanse of space renewed a fear in me tonight. The good kind. The kind that gives you a taste of who God is. It's overwhelming, really. We timed our excursion perfectly to witness the space station fly overhead. I exclaim with great enthusiasm that there are in fact people living on that thing. That's amazing. We must be terribly full of ourselves. Now we are landing car-sized robots on Mars.

I love the fact that God gave mankind attainable playgrounds to explore. The moon. Mars. The ocean floor. With each new discovery there is another reason to worship the Creator. He is indescribable.

The silence is uncomfortable. I realize at this moment that my life is out of balance. I had forgotten how to be quiet. There's just too much stuff going on. All. The. Time.

Tonight I thank the Lord for the clarity He brought to my mind and heart. I thank Him for the healing He gave to a little one-year-old boy. I thank Him for two kids, thousands of miles away, sleeping under the same bright stars.