Sunrise, moonset

This is a couple days old already, but I was out of online range yesterday, so I couldn’t post.

Sunday morning as I went out for an early morning run, I had the treat of a lifetime. Well, maybe it could happen more often than once in a lifetime, but for me, this is the first and only.

I left my house and headed west along a canal that runs through much of the Phoenix area bringing water to our area. As I made the turn onto the dirt bank along the canal, I looked up and noticed that the moon was getting ready to set on the horizon.

As I ran, the moon grew in size and in redness and “glimmer”, looking like a fireball crashing to the earth. It was beautiful and I praised the Lord for the privilege of enjoying such unusual moments -- though they be truly more often than we experience -- and thanked Him for the beauty of His creation and the enjoyment that comes from living within it.

3/4 of the way through my first half of my run, the moon set and disappeared behind the horizon and I mused, “They used to think that the sun revolved around the earth. I wonder what we think today, accept as fact that will be proven to be false in the future.”

The one thing that most bothers me about my North American culture (and other cultures around the world) is how sure we are of what we know. We “know” that there is no God. We “know” that we evolved from some primordial slime. We “know” that creation was a literal 7 days, or 7 ages or whatever.

What do we really know?

As I made my turn at the halfway point (if you must know, I run about 3.25 miles right now), I realized that I was going to be running directly into the rising sun in moments. What a treat! The fireball (which was responsible for me being able to enjoy the beauty of the moonset) was now full ablaze in my face and, though I basked in it’s warmth and light and power, I could not look into it for long and spent more time focusing on the ground in front of me.

I reflect on that experience for a moment and realize a simple truth: For those who don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ personally, they are like those who look at the moon and see the reflection of the light of the sun. The moon, while beautiful, is only visible as long as the sun shines it’s light on it. Those who don’t know Christ look at people who DO know Christ and see just a reflection of His light. But they also see all of the imperfections of the moon’s surface -- as a matter of fact, as the moon “grows” in it’s fullness during it’s phases into a full moon, it becomes easier and easier to see it’s “imperfections” -- the valleys, mountains, craters and such.

The more a believer walks with the Lord Jesus, the more authentic his relationships become -- on every level.

As I ran into the rising sun, blinded by it’s brightness, it’s radiance, it’s brilliance emanating from a source that is seen, but not so clearly delineated, one thought crossed my mind, “This is the essence of the Christian life -- to constantly, progressively, steadily, move toward the Son.”

Am I moving towards the Son today?