Lighting Up the Sky

From Hebrews 12:2-3:
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

NASA has made this announcement:  "The sun erupted late on Jan. 22, 2012 with an M8.7 class flare, an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a burst of fast moving, highly energetic protons known as a 'solar energetic particle' event..."  It's a solar flare, or a solar burst, that occurred Sunday and reached the magnetosphere of the earth earlier today.   The expectation was that northern regions, including parts of Canada, and even Scotland and southern England, that do not normally see the aurora borealis would actually experience the incredible show of the northern lights.   And, there could be a disruption in some forms of mass communications, including satellite and some sophisticated GPS devices.

I have to think about the spiritual parallel of this event.   The spectacular light shows do point to the wonders of the universe that were instigated by our Creator God, and reminds us of the power of the sun - we're just the right distance away from it to maintain so many natural aspects of life as we know it.   And, I do think this occasion can teach us about the nature of disruptions, or interruptions.

There are events in our lives that can disrupt or distract, and they may look appealing, even spectacular, but in the end, they do not satisfy.  While wealth is not sinful and having possessions is not necessarily a bad thing, if they serve to take our minds off the important things that God has ordained, and if we look to ourselves as our provider, rather than God, then they become disruptive.  (Author & speaker Jen Hatmaker will address some of those principles on TMH.)    So, when disruptions come and steal our attention, we have to be careful to continue to keep our eyes on Jesus, reading and meditating on His Word, spending time connecting with Him in prayer, and making up our minds to follow Him daily.   And, while this huge solar flare is only expected to cause minor glitches, in real life, when we encounter distractions, small instances can become bigger patterns that will take us off track.   So, we fix our eyes on Jesus...