Wednesday night, my sister and I were walking home, when the (Insert choice word here) street light went out. Every night, we walk the few blocks from our shop to our house, and every night, without fail, when we reach this lamp, it goes out. Weve come to expect it, but its still slightly annoying and unnerving, especially at the section where there is no other light. There arent many lights on our street, and once we pass THAT lamp, its dark all the way home. The little light it sheds is usually greatly appreciated, but it went out, and we walked on. Raising our voices just a little to keep whatever might be in the woods at bay.
Or just to amuse ourselves.
We tipped our heads back slightly – the stars were out. Bright. Lots of them. We don’t have too many clear nights here, and when it is clear, we don’t usually see the stars, or take time to appreciate them like we should. But with the light out, we could see them clearly.
…and then, one dropped.
“Oooo A falling star!!!” Whats more uncommon than seeing stars here, is seeing falling stars, so it was a big deal. And then another. And another. And a short time later – another.
We were running and squealing by this time. Into the house yelling for mom to come look, come quick! Before we shut the lights off and ran out. Tilted our heads backwards and pointed, and screamed. And pointed.
And then got a little worried. Stars. Were. Falling.
Mmm…this isn’t normal, is it?
Having not seen many in our lives (I think the last time I saw one was about 5 years ago when we saw northern lights and four falling stars) we didn’t know what to expect. Amanda and I stood, backs pressed against the house – contemplating these heavy issues when mom started saying something the end times, and falling stars being a sign, and then returned to the house. While Amanda and I stood there. Paralyzed. “Ive been bad” she muttered. “Ive been very bad” I said. We confessed that we had eaten too many jelly beans, had cream in our coffee, and probably consumed way too much sugar, we then agreed never to eat so many jelly beans again, fast from cream, and put away sugar.
And then another star fell, and we heard a strange noise and we took off screaming for cover in the house.
What, you wouldn’t do the same?
Inside I punched the oddness into trusty google only to discover that what we were seeing was completely normal:
“This shower produces about 60 meteors per hour, and its performance is farily consistant from year to year. August 12-13”
And infact was not just falling stars, but rather a meteor shower, of which wont happen again in this manner from this star for another 145 years. Or, you know, thats what Ive been told?
And then we felt a little better, and joined mom under the stars last night, where we talked, and giggled and laid on the cement until 1am when we heard growling dogs and we jumped so fast and ran screaming again for the house, beckoning for mom to follow, once we were safe behind the doors.
All silliness aside, watching those stars is perhaps one of the coolest things I have done in a long time.
Laying on the ground looking up, watching the stars come in and out of focus, and occasionally shoot across the sky, has the means to make you feel very very small, and also, in a way, very very special. To think, that out of all the stars, planets, galaxies, and universes out there – God chose earth for His people to live, and not only that, He chose to send His son to earth to save us. Kind of cool, huh?
Sometimes I think that in my life in this little corner of the little blur dot in this galaxy, among many many MANY others – is so darned important. When in reality, its not all that. Its no more important than my neighbors, my friends, my enemies even.
God chose this for us, He sent His son HERE…for us…and while staring up at the stars, watching them fall and shoot every so often, makes me feel small and so out of control, it makes me realize how much I need my savior, and not only makes me feel very small, but special as well.
Go check out some of Louie Giglio’s things on You Tube if you seriously want to be blown away by God and Space.
Tangled Thoughts 