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I’m in my driver’s seat parked in front of my tin-can house.  I click back my ignition key to rest the pistons from beating each other under the hood of my car.  The interior is still warm from the heat of day baking its insides.  Under the covers of the horizon, the sun has finally made its bed. The landscape dawns a flat black silhouette of large treed foliage against a slightly lighter fading deep blue ocean.  As darkness spreads its blanket over the wind-blown grass, there is a single bead twinkling directly between two towering oaks.  The tree branches don’t dare even sway in its path. Somewhere, its Creator is smiling at the crafty layout of this particular time of day, these particular trees, and this very odd peeping star.

While sitting, I teetered with the motion of the vehicle enjoying the banter the wind makes as it beats at the four walls of machine.  I settled into the thought of my car swaying on its wheels.  In the moment, I decided that I delight most in motion not instigated by my own muscle.  Escalators, the walking paths in airports, skateboards and bikes traveling down a hill, rocking chairs, laying back on my parents  chest while it rises and falls in rhythm… all amiable situations of motion.  I think of these things as my car rocks on its round rubber shoes in response to the earth’s violent breath. 

Then, in the midst of silly thoughts and the joy of mindless noise, I see a star blinking an extraterrestrial greeting via Morse code of light.   It literally reached out and snatched my eye, catching it for the better part of a long car-sit.  I’ve seen plenty of stars before on nights much clearer than this one, but this ball of burning gas was unique… it communicated with personality and gumption, unlike the others.  It was as if time sliced open its dial to make room for this happen-stance to take place.  My star knew the urgency of the moment and as I sat there, it delicately translated its message in subtle signals only I could read.

I sat.  I stared.  The dusk deepened and I willingly sank into the night accompanied by a friend light-years away.   The wind grew stronger in the midst of a silent conversation.  It became more of an ambient song, full of spontaneous gusts and long drawn out howls that bridged each musical act to the next.  All the while, my star and I held each other’s capture gently.  The trees’ branches bent and swaggered under the weight of mother earth’s exhalations.  The nature of the night had transformed them into wild beasts , but nonetheless, each branch stayed true to its polite route away from my stars line of visual communication.   As hard as nature tried, my divine appointment with astrology could not be interrupted, untl…

The bead began to flicker less vigorously than before.  I blinked and rubbed my eyes to make sure the mistake was not my own.  I reopened my eyes moments later and squinted, trying to readjust them to desired sensitivity.  This time, my star was a barely noticeable hint of light, slowly being swallowed by the surrounding darkness. As each fraction of radiance lessened, so did the warmth of heart.  It was as if I was watching my significant other saunter off under another’s embracing touch.  Just as quickly as it came, my night’s companion was stolen away by nothing less than a wind-blown mass of vaporous cloud.  It vanished.  The night transformed back into a dull reality of obstinate obligations lurking on the other side of my car door.

 The wake of my little star’s passing bade me to come to terms with my short lived encounter.  In retrospect, I presume the character of the situation is what made my acquaintance both divine and momentous. I was vulnerable and lonely.  I missed a family that I didn’t  have as of yet.  The trees magnificently parted like Red Sea waters.  The sun functioned as a perfectly compliant accomplice to my unknown schedule instead of its own clock work that paced the world daily.  The wind provided the motion and melody by making unpredictable swells that helped lull me into a wild rhythm of a mind seduced by stillness.  I know many likely experience lonesomeness, both crowded in population or perhaps in solitude with only thoughts (or cows) to accompany them… but tonight, I admit my epidemic of loneliness found its cure in the twinkle of a star. 

It is amazing how our God can use the smallest transference of light to crumble the foundation of my legs into humility.  The Creator that spoke both stars into existence by a single word and then sighed the breath of life into bones of man in a single thought is the same God that loves me with the vastness of all that is known and all that is unknown.  He courts our hearts with the passion of an affectionate Lover, He holds us in His heavenly embrace with the warmth and security of a Father, and He sacrificed Himself for us with the eternal redemption of His Son’s blood as our Christ. This is our God. This is the God we must bring to the nations.  May His wind blow you in the direction of obedience, may you twinkle the shining light of His glory as this little star did for me, and may you go in JOY, for this message is made for us!