October 2, 2018
God welcomed us into October with an unreal night sky. African stars are unlike any I’ve ever seen. They came out of nowhere; one night I just walked out of our building and entered a whole new world. (I could practically touch the Milky Way.) On a clear night I can lay on the ground for hours and still not get enough. My eyes feast on the sky with an endless hunger. The stars themselves are a testimony to the existence, power, and glory of our God. And they are only a taste.
My friend and I stared at them for hours one night and came up with all these things. We talked about them excitedly, we sang and laughed- because sometimes, when you have no words, all you can do is laugh.
Here is their testimony:
The feeling you get when you look at them- especially when the night is clear and the sky is full- something in your soul knows that a greater power must be out there. Some things are just too… purposeful… to be an accident.
I think there are probably even people out there who have never heard the name of Jesus, but understand that there is a God just by looking at creation. Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
As far as we know, the stars that we see from earth serve no other purpose but to shine for us. Thank you Jesus, how great your love must be for us that you would give us such a gift.
Jesus is the light of the world. He never leaves us in darkness- literally and metaphorically. Even if it’s cloudy outside, we always know there is still the sun or the stars behind the clouds. In the same way, we can always be sure that even when we can’t see Him, Jesus is always with us. I’ve really grown to love the metaphor of light and darkness over the course of the race. Ephesians 5:8-14:
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:
‘Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.'”
The stars hold memories. Staring at them is like having a little piece of home- it took me back to the times my dad would tell me if there was a meteor shower coming. We would stand in the middle of the road, or on the back porch on a freezing cold night, and look at the sky in search of shooting stars until our necks hurt so bad we couldn’t anymore.
When I look into that vast array of lights in the sky, I can’t help but feel small. We are a speck of dust in the universe, and God still cares for us.
And we can’t even see them all? They are already uncountable, but we’ve been told that there are so many more than our eyes can see. More than grains of sand on the earth. That is how big my God is. And all He did was speak, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky.” With His voice, He spoke the universe into existence. That is my God.
So this is a testimony from the stars. Go look at them if you can. After all, they’re shining for you.
Much love,
Abigail
