Dear Patheos Friends, The month of April opened with a bang! Monday, April 8 the world experienced a spectacular celestial moment with the total solar eclipse. What a sight! For a while, I could hardly keep up with the messages from friends and colleagues sharing their special moments of wonder experiencing the total eclipse. Here in Texas, at 1:41pm we experienced the perfect alignment of the moon, sun and earth with the sun totally blocked out. The sky looked as if it was midnight! For three minutes plus few seconds, we had total darkness. We were given an experience of a lifetime by God. At 1:44pm, slowly the sky lit back up, with the sun coming back into focus. Texas was one of the fifteen states gifted with this rare path of totality.
The total eclipse sparked a new interest in science among school aged students. The experience sparked a wonder of the divine among curious minds. To top it all, the experience sparked a yearning for something beyond the human understanding. The total eclipse bears testimony to Psalm 19:1. It states, “The heavens declares the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”
The next experience of this kind in Texas is slated to happen again in two hundred and ninety three years (Year 2317). For now, let’s take in the implications of this total eclipse experience. For our April 2024 experience, we bask in the total beauty of the heavens. We bow at the Creator of the Universe. We attest to the power of the Almighty God. We proclaim God’s total Awesomeness.
The moment of total eclipse has inspired wonder. The wonder that God holds the whole world together. The wonder that God controls the universe. The wonder of a communal experience from different time zones. Only God can be so precise, well aligned and yet embracing of humanity. The moment of totality sent the chills along our spines that we humans are as tiny droplets in the ocean of God’s greatness. Indeed He is God and besides Him, there is none other. God holds the world in the palm of His hands and He holds yours too!
I close this post with a quote that came in one of the text messages received from a colleague (Thank you again for sharing). The quote has had me in speechless adoration of how awesome, precise and great God is. Sharing the quote for the intent and purpose that it sparks prayer, worship and a deeper reverence for who God is to us. Oh how He loves you and me!
“An eclipse is a cosmic reminder that the universe is not a random collection of matter and events that happened by chance. The cosmos is so finely tuned that we can know precisely where every heavenly body will be 200 years from now, down to the minute. These events remind us that the universe is not an accident, and neither are we. God made both, and He is in control.” – R. L. Solberg
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