The Heavens Declare
Do you have a bucket list? My friend Yucheng Bai does. High up on it was his desire to see the Milky Way, “was” being the operative word. My wife and I had three Chinese students in tow for several days wandering around the mountains of North Carolina in some of my favorite haunts. We had some good hikes Saturday and that night was looking good for open dark skies. After an excellent homecooked Chinese feast at the house we had rented, we cleaned up the dishes and headed to Wiseman’s View in Linville Gorge. It was still twilight when we got there, so we waited out the darkness… and the sky did not disappoint!
That’s Yucheng in the lower left in the image, with Hawksbill and Sitting Bear Mountains in relief, doing his best to burn the Milky Way into his mind. Both he and Jesse are doctoral students in theology at Duke University… likely for the first time in their lives, what King David wrote in Psalm 19:1 finally made sense, “The heavens declare the glory of the Lord; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Even the lights from distant West Lenoir had to give in to its magnificence. I pointed out not just the Milky Way, but also constellations, individual stars, Saturn, Jupiter, satellites… and most everyone saw meteors. There is a small meteor streak evident just below the brightest part of the Milky Way in this shot.
We ended the evening around a roaring fire taking lessons from Joyce on how to prepare S’mores. We talked the night away while continuing to watch the stars wheel away from the limited space under trees back at the house. Jesse’s wife, Shengjie (aka Sophia), asked me what the best thing I had seen over our time there was. Easy answer: “The best thing I’ve seen is the wonder on my friends’ faces as God’s glory in creation unfolded before them at every turn.” I have loved these folks for quite a while, yet, somehow this weekend, I came away loving them more as my brothers and sister in Christ. So how was your weekend?
The Heavens Declare
Do you have a bucket list? My friend Yucheng Bai does. High up on it was his desire to see the Milky Way, “was” being the operative word. My wife and I had three Chinese students in tow for several days wandering around the mountains of North Carolina in some of my favorite haunts. We had some good hikes Saturday and that night was looking good for open dark skies. After an excellent homecooked Chinese feast at the house we had rented, we cleaned up the dishes and headed to Wiseman’s View in Linville Gorge. It was still twilight when we got there, so we waited out the darkness… and the sky did not disappoint!
That’s Yucheng in the lower left in the image, with Hawksbill and Sitting Bear Mountains in relief, doing his best to burn the Milky Way into his mind. Both he and Jesse are doctoral students in theology at Duke University… likely for the first time in their lives, what King David wrote in Psalm 19:1 finally made sense, “The heavens declare the glory of the Lord; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Even the lights from distant West Lenoir had to give in to its magnificence. I pointed out not just the Milky Way, but also constellations, individual stars, Saturn, Jupiter, satellites… and most everyone saw meteors. There is a small meteor streak evident just below the brightest part of the Milky Way in this shot.
We ended the evening around a roaring fire taking lessons from Joyce on how to prepare S’mores. We talked the night away while continuing to watch the stars wheel away from the limited space under trees back at the house. Jesse’s wife, Shengjie (aka Sophia), asked me what the best thing I had seen over our time there was. Easy answer: “The best thing I’ve seen is the wonder on my friends’ faces as God’s glory in creation unfolded before them at every turn.” I have loved these folks for quite a while, yet, somehow this weekend, I came away loving them more as my brothers and sister in Christ. So how was your weekend?