The Total Eclipse

Today is the long awaited Total Eclipse of the sun that has been announced for months. I am told this phenomenal event of an eclipse that will travel across the entire country has not happened since 1918. World War I was still going on the last time this happened. Today the total solar eclipse will cross thirteen states beginning with Oregon and ending with South Carolina. My home is in St. Louis, Missouri, so we are in its path. Evidently, people are coming from all over the country to one of the states like ours to view this spectacular sight. NASA plans to send up two airplanes flying at 50,000 feet to film the eclipse from nine miles in the sky.

Marilyn and I celebrated our 46^th wedding anniversary today on Eclipse Day. We cannot see the eclipse from our home very well because we have many tall trees. We went to an open field that belongs to our church and watched it from there. We took our lunch along and sat in my pick up. We watched the clock as we ate lunch because at 11:49 AM the partial eclipse started. We would step out the truck periodically and see with our glasses the moon eating away the sun. Then at 1:17 PM we could view the total eclipse. It was so incredible because it grew dark all of a sudden. We first noticed the night-lights coming on around a building nearby, and the headlights on the truck came on automatically. We rolled the windows down, and you could hear the sounds of nighttime with crickets. Birds were nesting for the night. We took off our glasses and watched for a minute the outline of the sun as it was eclipsed by our moon. It was beautiful to behold. David said long ago, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1).

Every day we have opportunity to see the wonder of God’s creation around us. We can see it in a sunrise or a sunset or in the changing of the seasons or the many wonders of creation. We can see it in those we love around us each day. Today we saw it in the beautiful eclipse. How great is God!