Looked at the Stars Lately?

Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
Isaiah 40:26 (NASB)

Last night I had to step outside for a moment, and as I was going about my earthly task, I realized that it had been a long time since I looked at the night heavens.  A very long time.  Probably several years!

The problem is not that we cannot see the stars; we are blessed to live in an area with little light pollution and few clouds.  The problem is just that I am usually too preoccupied to pay attention to Isaiah's advice!

So, I took a little time to listen to "the heavens declaring the glory of God".  I called Dad and he came out and looked with me.  Then we both went inside, and Dad got Mom and took her outside.

After a few minutes he came in, excitedly calling me to come out and see the shooting stars.  Sure enough, after a few minutes, I started seeing some too.  I had only seen one shooting star before, years ago in Phoenix.  It was just a small, short one.  But these were big, beautiful meteors with fat trails.

We did remember that shooting stars peak in August.  This morning I researched the August Perseid Meteor Shower and learned that this year, the peak nights for meteor viewing were the 12th and 13th!  How kind of God to prompt me to look upward last night, on one of this year's peak nights.  If we had stayed up later we would have seen even more: the meteors grow more numerous throughout the night, peaking in early morning.

photo courtesy: Mila Zinkova, Wikipedia

It's still not too late for you to watch for shooting stars yourself tonight--and the later at night, the better!