A Reminding of the AWE in Awesome

I can remember hearing numerous times growing up that nothing good happens after midnight.

But what about just being outside?

I’ve always loved the night. There is just something about it that is awesome.

I’ve never been an insomniac or a huge night owl like some of my friends, but I do prefer to stay up a little later than I should.

I had a buddy in college that stayed up way too late all the time, and then the summer after our freshmen year he decided to work a night job at Krispy Kreme. He would stay up all night making hot donuts and throwing away old donuts by the trash bag full. Then when daylight rolled around he would have to wear one of those stupid looking beauty rest masks so he could actually sleep.

That summer was one of the best summers of my life. I worked outside washing cars, so I had a tan and cash in my pocket. Then when I wasn’t working I was either at the lake skiing or riding my mountain bike. It was a hard life, I know.

Well one night I couldn’t sleep and I had a ton of stuff on my mind. So at about 3am I through on my Camel Back Hydration System, put a light on the front of my bike, put on some head phones… I actually was using a walkman so I could listen to the radio… and then I hit the road. I really didn’t have a goal in mind, I just needed to clear my head. Then after a few miles I came up on the big bright Krispy Kreme “Hot Now” sign.

I wasn’t sure if Jay would be working or not, but I road through the drive through anyway to find out. I’m sure they had seen a lot of weird things at night, but I’m pretty sure I was the first shirtless mountain biker at 3 in the morning.

I tell that story to let you know that there was something about being on my bike (doing something I love) and being outside at night that helped me clear my mind. But was it something more?

I have recently been taking a ton of late night walks with Bearick (my beast of a dog). The other night I was taking my normal rout, hoping Bearick wouldn’t take a second dump because I already used his handy dandy poop sack picker-upper… and then I caught myself staring up at the sky. It was beautiful. The moon was full and the stars were still bright.

I got back to my house and just went and laid down in my backyard staring at the sky and pondering how amazing God is. What is man that God is mindful of him?

The daylight sky is pretty amazing too, but you are limited in what you can see. I’ll be honest… if I ever go to the beach I will still look at the shapes of the clouds and try to figure out what they look like, but the day time sky falls short. It falls short in painting the full picture of how small we are in this universe. It isn’t until you see all the stars and reflect on how many light years away they are, or catch a glimpse of splendor in watching a shooting star sparkle across the sky that you can really REALLY just feel small.

Who are we that God could place the galaxies in their place with the tips of his fingers, but when it came to humanity he slowed down and shaped us with his hands, creating and forming us in His image? How incredible is that?!

I think late night stares into the sky are good for our souls because they help us clear our minds. I think they help us clear our minds because we can be reminded that an unfathomably HUGE God is watching over us and is working all things together for our good so that we might better reflect the glory of His Son Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to have a mountain bike and friends that work third shift, and you don’t have to have a huge dog to walk… you just have to have a piece of sky to stare at. I think it would be good for your soul to go outside some night this week and just spend 30 minutes gazing towards the heavens and thinking about how incredible the God we serve is. Then think about how awesome it is that this same God loves you with a love that transcends anything our minds can even begin to comprehend.

Happy star gazing you guys!