Just like most great adventures of my life, this one wasn’t planned. Truth be told, I was kinda bummed about the eclipse… it was the morning of, and I really wanted to get in on the excitement. But I hadn’t planned well – at all.
Then at 9am, my friend and next door neighbor Morgan called. “Hey, wanna drive an hour north and see the eclipse in totality? I hear the traffic isn’t that bad.” 5 minutes later I was driving to her house to pick her up, and 10 minutes later we were on the road.
A few hours later, I was sitting under a tree at a little festival in the tiny town of Dillard, Georgia – population 198. We snagged one of the last $5 parking spots – thanks to a security guard named CJ – and moments later, our car was locked in by a row of other eclipse – seekers. As I glanced around at the friendly faces sitting on the blankets around me, my heart swelled with joy. Par for the course, I did a terrible job of planning and God still showed up.
And then, the clouds came. They rolled in from the south, dark and menacing – a mere 20 minutes before the sun and moon were scheduled to eclipse. Our hearts sank as a dark wall of clouds covered the sky – no breaks and no end in sight. There was about a 100% chance that we would not see the big moment we’d been anticipating.
Then the frenzy broke out. My group of friends jumped up and started debating on whether or not we should leave and try to drive north. “It’s a greater chance of seeing the eclipse if we go north!” “But we don’t have time, and there’s still no guarantee that we’ll see it!” Dejected, my friend Hope and I walked to throw away a few bags of trash. A woman drove by on a golf cart and sadly said, “A once in a lifetime event.”
We asked ourselves, “Why would God do this? Why would He not let us see something that so clearly shows His glory – that we’ve been looking forward to?!” My heart sunk lower and lower as I realized my car was blocked in – and that even if Morgan and I wanted to leave to try to catch it further west or north, we couldn’t.
So, as half of our group loaded up to leave, the other half of us did the only thing we knew to do – we started to pray. In the style of Honi the Rainmaker, we started speaking prayers out loud, begging God to let us see the eclipse and to show us His glory.
The minutes ticked down, closer and closer to the all important 2 minutes where the moon would be directly in front of the sun. “God, just as you parted the Red Sea, please part the clouds!”
The dark wall of clouds stayed strong.
“Move, clouds, get out tha way. Get out tha way, clouds, get out tha way,” some people started cheering.
Then, hope! “You can see the sun!” Someone exclaimed. Unbelievably, there was a tiny break in the clouds, and with our glasses, you could actually see tiny flecks of the sun coming out. I took my glasses off and avoided direct eye contact with the sun – and then I saw it. BLUE SKY! Wow. I couldn’t believe it. God had actually parted the clouds! Right to the south of the sun, there was a small stretch of beautiful blue sky that was slowly growing…
About 30 seconds before the total eclipse, the skies completely parted and almost cleared up completely.
Tears welled up in our eyes as we cheered at the tops of our lungs. I even howled at the moon, to the laughter of my friends. Some guy standing next to us declared, “Jesus really IS real!” And, as the sun’s rays became overshadowed by the moon, my group of friends and I sat down in the middle of the street and safely took our glasses off, in complete awe of our creator and his creation. We listened to the crickets chirp, we watched as the sky turned from light blue to navy, then to pink and orange. A silence came over all of us as our hearts swelled with the amazing gift God had given to us.
And I thought about my disbelief. I thought about how God waited until the very last moment to reveal his majesty. I thought about how much cooler God’s story turned out to be than the one I was longing for in the moment. I thought about how He frequently does that in life, even in my own life.
How often do I lose faith in the time between God promises me something and when he fulfills it?
I thought about Sarah in the Bible, and how she laughed when God said she would bear a child, thinking she was too old.
I thought about the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness before they reached the promised land.
I thought about Jesus’ sense of humor when he gave his disciples their tax money through a coin in a fish’s mouth.
I thought about Peter walking on water to reach Jesus, and how he faltered when he took his eyes away from him.
I thought about my own life, and how many times I’ve lost patience in the waiting period and lost hope that the clouds were ever going to part.
What a beautiful representation God gave us of waiting and patience through the eclipse.
Take courage my heart.
Stay steadfast my soul.
He’s in the waiting.
Hold onto your hope, as your triumph unfolds.
He’s never failing.
*Most of these photos were taken by my incredibly talented friend http://kacietillman.myadventures.org. Check out her blog and click on “View my Photos” to see more!
