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We live in South Central Washington and were pretty excited about eclipse day, August 21, 2017, when the sun would disappear behind the moon for a brief couple of minutes across the United States. It was a life time event. The last time an eclipse of this magnitude happened across the Untied States, was 1918. It was the year before my mother was born. The current eclipse wasn’t supposed to reach totality where we live, but even so, it was exciting.
A little after 9 AM, we went outside to observe what we hoped would be an amazing solar display.
We didn’t have special eclipse glasses, (boo!) though we considered it. They became very expensive as the day got closer, and there was some question about the safety of the last ones available, so we opted out. We made a viewer box out of a Reece’s Puffs Cereal Box, set out a colander to keep track of the shadows it made, and made attempts at viewing in the rear selfie camera of our cell phones.
Time passed, and it started to feel a bit chilly. During that first hour and 15 minutes, the temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees with the shadow of the moon slightly darkening the area. We didn’t know there were so many roosters in our neighborhood, until they went ABSOLUTELY crazy. The cows,in pastures at both ends of our country road were mooing. Multitudes of birds were “singing” loudly, and flew around before heading to the trees to roost. THEN IT GOT VERY QUIET. The birds stopped singing, the cattle and roosters were silent. It was a little eerie!
Though we tried, the only place we could see the eclipse very well was in a bright reflection, in a pool of water we poured into our water cooler, and set out in the sun. As the moon reached 95 percent coverage we could see the reflection in the pool of water and the light all around us became dim, as if the sun was behind some clouds, yet still shining. It reminded me of deep Winter, or of watching through a darkly tinted window. We looked around in the sky to see if there were any stars, but were a little disappointed to not even see Venus. Other than not having the glasses to look directly, it was our only disappointment.
Almost at once, it got warmer and brighter and suddenly I noticed that the birds were singing again! 🙂
As we went inside to view the televised reporting of the eclipse across the nation, we became aware about how excited and awestruck people were to experience it, and fully aware of the majesty and perfection of creation. If the moon, sun and earth had been any closer or further apart, it could never have happened. At the point of totality, the Sun only disappeared for a couple minutes at the most, and almost as quickly as the eclipse arrived, it left.
This made me think about what it was like when the sun disappeared for THREE FULL HOURS on a day almost 2000 years ago, at the point when God deserted His only begotten son so he could take our sins upon him, there on the cross of Calvary. Love put him there. Love for all the people of the world both past, present and future.
With my brief experience of not only awe, wonder and majesty that many in this country felt as the sun, oh so briefly. disappeared, it made me think of the GIFT God gave to mankind when Christ took the sins of the world, past, present and future upon himself. He paid the full price for our sins when the sun disappeared that day.
The Bible is so very clear about this event. It is recorded in history, and yet some doubt. Not only did He die for all our sins, but He arose from the dead. More than 500 people saw the resurrected Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote: “And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.” 1 Corinthians 15:5-7
Salvation and eternal life are only available to those who believe. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.” 2 Corinthians 6:2
God is calling out to you. The wonder of the eclipse shows just a tiny fraction of His power. Don’t let another day pass without trusting Christ as your Savior! Today IS the day of salvation! If you haven’t already, won’t you believe today.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
