Stars

I’ve always liked something about the stars in the sky. When I was a young kid I was all about “Star Trek Next Generation.” I used to watch that show every week or whenever it was on TV.

I remember going to my grandmother’s house and watching the older Star Trek shows with her. I’m pretty sure I got the Star Trek thing form her. She even brought me to a Star Trek convention. I liked the idea of “boldly going where no man has been before.”

As I got older I began to learn about how vast our universe was. It fascinated me. I even got to go to space camp and fly a space shuttle simulator.

Unfortunately that’s about as far as I got to the stars. After space camp I started skateboarding to occupy my mind with other things

Then I got a job as a camp counselor and got to teach kids about the stars and do night hikes and stuff. I was able to admire the universe through a telescope once a week. I even saw the rings of Saturn once. The stars became something awesome again. Something exciting, something that is so much bigger than me, bigger than everything around me.

Then I lost interest again. I found a new job working in a machine shop where I don’t even see the light of day sometimes. The stars were still out there but I wasn’t paying attention to them any more. They never leave but the light from cities, cars, smog and all kinds of other things drown them out. Or I just don’t happen to look up.

My family and I went camping this past weekend. We were out of the light pollution. The sky was marvelous at night. It reminded me off all the times I used to look at the stars. It reminded me how small I really was. It reminded me that my universe revolves around something much bigger than me.

Our universe is so big and vast yet our God holds all of that in his hand. He’s even bigger than the universe. Sometimes we forget. We forget because we are so busy with our own insignificant routines. The pollution of our every day lives drown out the vastness and beauty of the one who created us.

Sometimes we need to escape out of our everyday lives and move to a peaceful place that helps us focus on how great our God is.

Austin Mcleod