11 Aug, 2008
Are you a meteor messenger?
The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.
"The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute."The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."
Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities.
For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn.
For maximum effect, "get away from city lights," Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside.
photo courtesy nationalledger.com, 8/14/07 & story nasa.gov 8/10/08
Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (ESV)
What does Jesus teach us about being His "light" in today's God's Story scripture?
I can't say it any better than the study notes in Tyndale's Life Application Study Bible notes:
If we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like. We hide our light by (1) being quiet when we should speak, (2) going along with the crowd, (3) denying the light, (4) letting sin dim our light, (5) not explaining our light to others, or (6) ignoring the needs of others. Be a becaon of truth - don't shut your light off from the rest of the world.
Did you notice in today's story that the meteor show (which happens once a year) is great, but not always visable due to city lights?
This reminds me of the way many of us as followers of Jesus often live. Either we get serious spiritually annually (like at Easter time) or our witness to Christ's truth is covered up by other things in our life that we allow to out shine Jesus.
But Jesus calls each of us to put on His "light show" all the time.
No doubt most scientists would want us to believe that these meteors evolved from some monkey-shaped dust particles or something...but we know that ultimately this burning light comes from the the one Who created the dust - Jesus!
In the same way, the power that it takes to be Christ's light in this dark world comes from the One Who created us - Jesus!
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- Praise your Heavenly Father for shining the light of Christ into your life. Confess any way in which you have been hiding the light of Christ in your life. Ask His Spirit to make you willing to humble yourself so that your life will draw only on the power of the Son in you.
- Review the LAB study notes and be honest about one way you tend to hide Christ's light. Pray about this every day until you see this part of your life light up!
- Using a Bible study guide, look up five verses that use light as an analogy for living the Christian life.
- For one week, write down at least one daily opportunity Jesus gave you to be a light to someone. At the end of the week, evaluate what you have learned.
How can we connect today's story, God's Story and our story to others?
- Make it your daily goal to shine Christ's light toward one person who is in spiritual darkness...this might be a friend at school, at work, or a family member.
- Ask your friends and family if they heard about the meteor light show this week? Use it as a conversation starter to find out what they believe to be the ultimate source of the meteors? Trust Jesus to show you if this is the time to talk about how He has brought you from darkness into His light.
- Write a note of appreciation to another follower of Jesus who has been "letting a little bit of light into the world".
- November 2008 [13]
- October 2008 [22]
- September 2008 [22]
- August 2008 [19]
- July 2008 [22]
- June 2008 [13]
- May 2008 [20]
- April 2008 [22]
- March 2008 [21]
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- June 2006 [3]
