Psalm 8:3 & 9 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him… O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Have you ever seen the stars?

Now I’m not talking about the few stars you can see from the back deck of your suburban home where the stars compete with street lamps, headlights, and the light generated by the hustle and bustle of the other 2.4 million people who live in Northern Virginia. I’m talking about a cloudless, moonless night out in the middle of nowhere, where it’s just you and God’s creation.

My dad has a cabin in north central Pennsylvania which is just such a place. Over Labor Day weekend Pam, I, and the kids spent a few days detaching and unwinding in preparation for the start of a busy school year. One night at about 10 PM we sat outside under the stars gazing upward for almost an hour.

Breathtaking. Indescribable, Unbelievable. We found ourselves talking in hushed tones for no other reason than the absolute silence around us and the majestic panorama before us. It was like looking at the face of God.

Scientists tell us that we are part of the Milky Way galaxy, a spiral cluster of 200 billion stars. On any given night we can see only 0.000003% of it. And the Milky Way is only one of billions of other galaxies just like it.

I don’t know about all of that, but on that particular September night, the Milky Way was living up to its name. A huge band of thick impenetrable stars cut through the night sky like a deep mist or dense fog. It really did look like spilled milk across a jet black tablecloth splattered with paint. At any one time we could see a half dozen airplanes poking along the four corners of the sky; flying to Atlanta, Chicago or New York. Once we saw an impossibly high dot of light moving across the sky from west to east, constant and very fast. No doubt a satellite in orbit- I wonder if it was the international space station? Then there was the occasional shooting star- 6 or 7 that hour; as the kids made wishes on them.

As we bundled back into our cabin to drink hot chocolate and tuck ourselves into bed we felt awed, amazed, worshipful and just a little bit small.

***********

The other night Pam and I took our dog for a walk around the block. It was clear and we saw the moon and a few stars here and there, but nothing like the display in upstate Pennsylvania. The light all around us just washed across the sky bleaching out God’s handiwork. “They’re all up there, every single night.” I said. “We just can’t see them.”

I think life is like that too. The busyness of our schedules, the noise of life, and the crush of obligations veil us from seeing God’s work all around us. We hustle here and there, never taking time to look up. Our enemy is really good at creating distractions that are cheap imitations and poor copies of the life that Jesus offers us. As we surround ourselves with the harsh, imitation light of this world the power and majesty of God’s true light and glory grows dimmer and dimmer. It’s still there. It always has been; but we just can’t see it.

Simplify. Train yourself to listen and look for God. Remove some distractions and see if you can’t discern God’s presence more clearly. “It’s there, every single day. Maybe you just can’t see it