The Night Sky

This morning (November 19) I got up at 4am to get ready for another day at dialysis (for my wife).  I went out to start the car … it was 39° and clear.  Although I turned on the back porch light, the sky was so bright from the Harvest Moon (the first full moon after the autumnal equinox) that I didn’t even need the porch light.  I was even treated to a partial lunar eclipse!  Because the eclipse was almost total, it is called a Blood Moon.  The eerie red-orange color is caused by the reflection of the sun off the earth onto the moon and back to us.  Kind of complicated.  But that’s what you might expect from a brilliant Creator.  And two days ago (November 17) was the Leonid cluster meteor shower seen best in the early morning (again as we went to dialysis).  This meteor shower is seen each year as the earth passes through the dust debris left from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle as it makes its way around the sun every 33 years.  I remember seeing the Leonids when I was in high school in 1966.  My son, Phillip and I saw Halley’s comet in 1986 (it returns every 75 years) and My Granny Whitely told me of seeing Halley’s comet when she was eleven in 1911.  God has given us a gorgeous night sky to remind us of His awesome power.  David said in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”  King David could have been about 45 years old when he saw Halley’s comet!  Hey, if the dear Lord tarries His coming, you can see the Leonid meteor shower next year on November 17.  I’ll be watching.  Or you could wait to see Halley’s comet in 2061.  But you’ll be on your own for that one.  I won’t be watching, unless I make it to 111.