Look Up!

Gary Hullquist

Seasons are changing. Winter is moving in. We will be shifting from our early morning walking to mid-afternoon jaunts when the sun is shining, and the air is warmer!

     But for the past 6 months or more, we've been hitting the pavement in the dark. The advantages? Quiet, cooler than afternoon Hotlanta type weather, and darker. You can actually see the stars! And what a spectacular sight it is on a cloudless morning. There's Orion! So strikingly recognizable with its trademarked seven stars (Amos 5:8). And, of course, Pleiades, the Big Dipper and Polaris. Even Cassiopia, that big "M" overhead, is not too hard to pick out.

     Then there is the change in position as we walk through the months toward winter. Orion began to peak over the eastern horizon in the late Spring mornings, and slowly edge its way to an overhead position by late Summer. Now we're in late Autumn and it's definitely heading eastward dragging everyone else along with it.

     Several exceptionally bright "stars" have been moving around as well. Jupiter and Mars especially wander around while the rest of the starry constellations hold their relative positions without any evidence of changing at all. Just as dependable as, well, the Creator who put them there!

     "I am the LORD", says Jehovah, "I change not." Malachi 3:6. And that's a good thing. Even the planets, moving around the sky as they do, do so with clockwork precision. Dependable. Reliable. Never disappointing. And if our God, can and does keep the starry heavens in perfect order, we can be assured that He, our thoughtful, loving, caring Father can and will order affairs in our lives according to His perfect design, knowing the end from the beginning of exactly what we need, not just now, but even more importantly, in the end when He sends His Son to rescue us!

     So, look up.