Starry Night

One of the perks of leaving the house for work at 4am is a ritual I’ve come to cherish.   Just before getting in the car I step out of the garage and take a long gaze into the quiet starry night (unless it’s too cloudy of course).  Every time it’s a powerful reminder to my soul of how majestic and powerful our Creator God is, and how small and yet significant He has made each of us.  I remind myself that if He can make all that celestial wonder work together, He surely can work out all that concerns me today. 

Given my fascination with the stars, I’ve been a little giddy ever since I heard what is happening in the cosmos tonight (December 21).  They are calling it “The Great Conjunction of 2020”.   Jupiter and Saturn will appear closest they can been seen in the sky together since nearly 800 years... forming what some have called the “Bethlehem Star”.  What is even more incredible is that it is happening on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year in our hemisphere.  My guess is that most of 2020 has felt pretty dark for a lot of us, but how amazing is this... on the literally darkest day of 2020, God has caused the brightest light in centuries to appear.  One national news outlet wrote this:  “By chance, the day that Jupiter and Saturn will appear closest for Earth-based stargazers is Dec. 21”.  I actually don’t think it’s by chance at all.  God has specialized bringing the brightest light into the darkest times for quite a long time.  This week we celebrate that night in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, when the Light of the World entered our darkness.  What we will see in the sky tonight will be breath-taking.  What happened that night in Bethlehem was life-changing.  Jesus entered our world to come rescue us from ourselves.  If you find yourself struggling through the darkness, can I invite you to look up?  The Light of the World wants to fill our hearts with hope, peace, joy, and love.  Can you see it?

 “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  - Matthew 4:16

Mark

PS- if you want to talk any further about this, shoot me a note:  [email protected]