It was like 11 o'clock at night when I suddenly got this cryptic text from my son - "Please turn off your porch lights." Excuse me?
Next weird thing - there are a dozen people in my front yard, all looking up at the sky. I can't really see them. I'm out in the country where dark is dark. But I can hear them.
Then I get it. They've come from town to see the show in the sky. The northern lights. The aurora borealis. That spectacular display of colored lights, that's seldom seen in the lower 48.
So I joined the party. Just like I did when we were all looking at that total solar eclipse. Remember?
So I'm watching the news last night, which concluded with amazing northern lights photos from all over the world.
But it was the anchorman's signoff that has had me thinking ever since, he said:
"We've had a lot of reasons to be looking up recently."
Whoa. And not just at the sky.
"The world's on fire." You know I've heard that phrase again today on the morning news. I've been hearing it a lot. Gaza, Ukraine, Israel, Ivy League schools, tinder box politics, almost nuclear Iran, China, Russia on the move, doomsday warnings. World on fire. And it seems like our fire extinguishers are spraying kerosene.
Is it any wonder that depression, anxiety, mental health issues, and even suicide are soaring? Conflict is dividing families... churches... communities.
There's not much peace to be found just looking around. With so much chaos and loneliness and fear, it seems like we do have "a lot of reasons to be looking up."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eclipse, Colored Lights and Looking Up."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 11:3-4, where it asks this: "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Listen to God's answer:
"The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne."
Well I'll tell ya, one thing is not shaking - nor can it be shaken. God is still in charge. He always has been, He always will be.
Oh, yea I know we like to think we're in charge. Until things start spinning out of our control. One doctor's visit. One test result. One funeral. One financial hit. One storm. One child in trouble.
One of those moments when all our "go-to's" just aren't there or just aren't enough.
Like this week eight years ago for me. Sunday night, our oldest grandchild's honor student graduation from high school. Monday afternoon, my Karen, the love of my life was suddenly gone. I only knew life with her. I had no map for life without her.
The waves of grief, I'll tell ya, they were overwhelming. Oh I had a family who loved me - but they were grieving, too.
I had wonderful friends reaching out to me but, none of them could go to the places in my heart that were bullet-riddled and ripped wide open.
But "the Lord was still on His heavenly throne." Far away? Oh no. Closer than anyone on earth could possibly be. For His Book told me: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, He saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).
I looked up, and He moved close. My Jesus. Who promised, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
When fear is winning, He is there with His unexplainable peace. When loneliness comes knocking, His love answers the door. When everything's crashing, He is my one safe place.
I met Him at a cross where He loved me enough to die for my sin. I invited Him in and He came - because He's alive. His cross was followed by His empty tomb. And the Bible says of Him, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19).
If you don't have that anchor, if you've never begun a relationship with Him, would you go to our website and we'll show you how to begin with Him today. It's ANewStory.com.
You know, we do have a lot of reasons to look up recently don't we?
Because "up" that's where hope is.