August 22 – “The Big S.E.”

So, did anybody happen to look up at the sun yesterday?  It was solar eclipse day in the United States.  From the looks of the newspaper and social media it was no less than the hottest natural phenomenon to hit the country all year.  (Get it?  “Hottest”?  The sun is involved?).  I remember back during an eclipse many years ago (No idea of the date.  I was a kid, so it was back in the last century sometime.  That would be the 1900’s.  So long ago).  I tried to make one of those box things to view the spectacle.  It just didn’t work for me.  I tried the piece of paper with the pin hole stabbed in it.  That really didn’t work.  I was too petrified of being blinded to attempt a direct look, so, setting aside book photos and TV reports, I guess this one was the first time I ever actually personally saw a solar eclipse.  I have seen some lunar ones in my time, but never the Big S.E. 

And how did I manage to do what I never have done before?  To this bucket list check-off I owe my grandchildren.  They went to a program at the library the other day.  Learned everything there is to know about an eclipse, and then got the glasses for the real thing.  Chris and I made our way outside at every work break to see what we could see.  Our first foray caused us a bit of dismay.  Clouds covered the sun, but they soon dissipated enough for that fabulous Galveston version of summer sunshine to appear.  The glasses were amazing.  Just checking them out like regular sunglasses or 3D glasses from the theater was worthless.  Nothing but blackness.  But when we located the sun, it appeared in perfect silhouette.  Of course we didn’t get the full impact, so it never got dark outside, but the moon shadow was clearly formed.

I managed to get construction work next door completely shut down.  We have been talking to the guy in charge of building the deck, so I went over and offered to let him have a look through the magic glasses.  He was pretty excited.  So was I, because when he got excited he talked more.  He was from Australia, so it was fun to listen to his accent.  He called over his wife so she could see, and then each of the workers in turn.  It was fun to give them a little break to see something amazing like that. 

The Big S.E.  Amazing.  Way to go, yet again, God.

1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.”

Father, thank you the chance to see something like that solar eclipse.  Your universe is beyond my comprehension, that’s for sure.  Amen.