#24 Sleep outside during a meteor shower

Growing up, in the fall, my family and I would brave the mosquitoes and the balmy air, wrap ourselves in bed sheets like mummies, and lay on the lawn to watch meteor showers. We’d lay there, waiting for a shooting star while the mosquitoes buzzed in our ears. Just as we were about to give up, one would streak by, giving us another dose of patience. This cycle would repeat itself until we couldn’t take the buzzing any longer. One night, I was driving my niece and nephews home from a movie during a meteor shower and they were captivated by the falling stars they saw out my car windows. I thought it would fun to spend a whole night outside during a meteor shower and fall asleep watching the stars.

So last spring, when I knew there was going to be a meteor shower, I took Lauren, Braden, and Braden’s friend Chris, to my parents on a Friday night with our sleeping bags in tow. As the sun set, we set up the cots and made up our beds in the middle of my parents’ driveway. My parents live about a mile out of town.  They're surrounded by farmland, so when the sun goes down, it's dark enough to see the stars!  When I would fly home from college for the weekend (from Southern California) and my mom would drive me home from the airport, I would get out of the car, breathe in the fresh, sweet smelling air, and look up at the sky.  It was the only time I got to see the stars.  They're something you start to take for granted when you see them all the time. 

My Bed

Once it was dark, we climbed into our beds to watch the show. My parents joined us for a while.  I had to leave my contacts in so that I could watch the stars as long as possible before finally succumbing to fatigue.  If I hadn't been wearing my contacts, I wouldn't have been able to see an asteroid the size of a garbage truck if it landed in the pasture next to us. That's just how blind I am.  Even with corrective lenses, I've never been very good at spotting things.  I was always the one in our family, when we went for drives in the hills, who couldn't see the deer or turkeys on the side of the road.  Despite my observational shortcomings, I saw several falling stars, and the boys claimed to have seen about 65 (mmmhhhmmmm…sure).


Lauren and I settled in and ready for the show

There’s nothing like the stars and the sky, or any natural wonder, to remind me of the majesty of God. One of my favorite passages that describes God’s “bigness” is in Job 38. Job is, as I have been known to do, questioning God’s plan. God comes to Job in a storm and responds with this:

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know? (I love that God is sarcastic here!)
Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
When I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
When I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
When I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

Have you ever given orders to the morning, or show the dawn its place?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?

What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
Surely you know, for you were already born!

You have lived so many years! (again with the sarcasm! I love it!)
Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
(The passage is longer than this, I just included my favorite parts. I encourage you to read the whole chapter!)

I found this passage one morning while on a retreat in Tahoe this summer. I hadn’t been able to sleep, so at dawn, I took my camera and my bible, and I went out to the edge of the lake and watched the sunrise. I found this verse there. 

Now, when I witness a wonder of God’s creation, or when I begin to think my plan would be better than God’s, I think of Job chapter 38. God obviously knows more than I do, what place do I have to question Him, the Creator of the Universe?

Did you ever try to count the stars when you were a kid?  I did.  If you're still trying as an adult, you should throw in the towel.  Our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains billions of stars.  If you were to count the stars in the Milky Way, one per second, it would take you 2,500 years.  And that's just the Milky Way, there are hundreds of billions of other galaxies like ours (at least that are known to man)!  It is truly mind boggling...and mighty humbling.  God created all this, and he loves ME and you!

"He brings out the starry host by number;

He calls all of them by name.

Because of His great power and strength,

not one of them is missing."

                                       Isaiah 40:26

I didn’t think the kids would make it through the night of star gazing without moving into the house. When I woke up at dawn, I thought they hadn’t made it, but they were there, just snuggled really deeply into their sleeping bags. I hope they recall that night someday and realize that God’s creation is big, but His love for them is even bigger. When we remember God's power, and we remember His love for us, we have no reason not to trust Him and His will for our lives. 

If you've never slept out under the stars, I highly recommend it!