Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Eclipse Me? What Are You Doing Here?


This eclipse has made things pretty interesting around here.  
We live right in the "path" of the total darkness eclipse.


There are people flooding into this small town, farm community like crazy.

There are aerial views and that make one of the camps look like a refugee camp.  



When these folks come thru they look different, we can easily identify them, as "those people".  These folks are traveling in everything from small cars to big buses, but whether they are in a car or a bus, they seem to have everything they own strapped onto it.

You see every reaction possible to these folks, from the locals; there is a fear, irritation, or fascination.  I love seeing the old locals parking their pickups and leaned over the hood with a cup of coffee and a friend, and watching main street like a parade is in town.

I am so curious about these folks.  They have come from a very long ways, all over the world, and by the looks of it, they have all their belongings with them.  I realize they are here for the eclipse and the party, but there has to be more than that drawing these folks.  

I keep having the thought that they are so close to having it right.  They are drawn by an event of the  sun.  They are planning and traveling, for a long time from a long ways, to get the best view of the SUN doing something spectacular.

These people seem very different, but they are really just the same as all of us.  These folks all have a story.  I would love to sit and hear just a handful of the stories of these people that have come to celebrate and get the best view of the SUN becoming dark for approximately 2 1/2 min.

I wonder if these folks have been told about the SON of the living GOD.  The  SON that did something spectacular 2000 years ago and the SUN went dark for 3 hours that day. The whole history of the world revolves around this SON, just like our world revolves around the SUN.  Without the SUN or the SON and we have no hope, no life.

John 8:12-16English Standard Version (ESV)

I Am the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

I want to sit with a few of these folks and ask the question that we get asked when we travel to Uganda,
 "You have come a long way, why have you come?"

Even if these people don't know why they have come, or they think they have just come for the eclipse or the party, there is something deeper that I think draws us all to be a part of something amazing that will go down in history forever. 

Job 12:22-25The Message (MSG)

From God We Learn How to Live

13-25 
“True wisdom and real power belong to God;
    from him we learn how to live,
    and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it’s down for good;
    if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;
    if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
    both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,
    exposes judges as witless fools.
He divests kings of their royal garments,
    then ties a rag around their waists.
He strips priests of their robes,
    and fires high officials from their jobs.
He forces trusted sages to keep silence,
    deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
He dumps contempt on famous people,
    disarms the strong and mighty.
He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,
    hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
He makes nations rise and then fall,
    builds up some and abandons others.
He robs world leaders of their reason,
    and sends them off into no-man’s-land.
They grope in the dark without a clue,
    lurching and staggering like drunks.”


I went on a hippie hunt yesterday to see if I could talk to some of the people that are coming thru town, but I realized there are some pretty interesting hippie looking peeps staying right here in our house.  


These 2 hippies are SON followers.  They will miss the eclipse, as they are moving onto the next stop, but they have already committed their lives to following the SON of God and being a part of something spectacular that has been life changing and life giving.  Praying for safe travels for these 2 as they look like the other peeps driving around with all their stuff strapped to the car.




Matthew 16:24-25 (ESV)

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

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