This was crazy creepy. My daughter and I couldn't believe our eyes. We drove around looking for random photos to take. This was one of them. The mountains here in the Vegas valley, pretty much disappeared that day.
This photo of the sun doesn't do it justice. It was truly a blood red color. This looks like an orange-red color. My daughter and I whipped out our phones and just started snapping pictures. Then she began chasing a dragonfly that was on the parking lot asphalt and trying to get a video of it. I was waiting for the poor kid to trip on the curb, but she didn't.
The sky is like this because of all the fires in the state of California. You know, we saw the sky and all the "coolness" of how it looked. My daughter said when we walked out the door, "Mom! Look! It's yellow out here on the ground!" There was indeed a yellow-orange hue on the ground and all around us.
It was eerie.
But what we didn't realize, was amid that smoke that traveled thousands of miles from California was that the fire that caused that smoke took the lives of many people, it took the homes of thousands, inside that smoke...was the tears of hundreds. The sadness of those who lost pets, family members and their own shelter it was gone *snap* like that, all in the blink of an eye.
We take in the eerie beauty of all this, but what we don't see is what's on the inside of that smoke. What the story is and how it came to be.
I snapped this pic on 9/11. Nothing related to "9/11" it's just the date of the photo. Of course maybe there is somewhat of an essence of THE "9/11" in this photo. It's dismal, and sad and there's a plane in the sky and it looks sad. I took it and reminded people to give thanks for another beautiful day.
Do you ever wonder who is on a plane that flies overhead?
Where are they going?
A wedding? A funeral? A conference meeting? Are they visiting a dying relative? Are they going on vacation? Are there kicking screaming babies on board? Is there an unaccompanied minor sitting in one of those seats anxious to see his/her mom or dad on the other side of the continent? Is there a single mom flying with her two children, playing UNO with her daughter while she tries incessantly to calm her fussy baby as he sits on her lap? Is there a flight attendant trying to calm the fears of a first time flyer as turbulence arises? Is there a belligerent passenger who refuses to place his seat belt on because he has had too much to drink?
So many people, going so many places doing so many things.
All we see down here is a plane, in the sky, flying.
What's inside that plane is something else.
This reminds me of the Bible.
On one person's night stand it's just a book. It's collecting dust. The pages are all still crisp, but the person who owns it has no clue really what's inside it. They see it there, but are oblivious to the whole of that book and the goings on inside that book and how that book can totally transform their life. They may believe God exists, they may even visit that building they call "church" to check a box each week so they can show every one that they are a believer.
So they can convince themselves they are a believer.
But are they?
If they only think what a man behind a microphone is telling them is truth, and that man is only sharing snippets of what's in that Book how can that person know, FOR SURE, that what they are hearing is truth unless they open that book and see what's inside for themselves? I'm not judging anyone here, who doesn't or does open their Bibles I am just merely observing.
This is an observation.
Like the planes we see. What's going on inside?
Then you have another person who does read their Bible. It sits on the night stand, but it's pages are crinkled, some may be dog-eared, torn or highlighted in various colors. Notes in pen in the margins and random notes stuffed on church outlines nestled in the pages of Matthew or Ruth. I have 3 Bibles, the cover fell off of one of them along with several of the concordance pages.
Charles Spurgeon once said, "A bible that's falling apart, usually belongs to a person who isn't."
You know reading the Bible doesn't make all your problems disappear. It doesn't make the alcoholic stop drinking, or the husband stop cheating, or the cancer go away. What I can tell you with absolute truth is, that by reading the bible it makes you closer to God.
You see what's inside those pages.
You hear God speak to you in ways He's never spoken before.
You find God and His peace inside those pages that far outweighs the peace you will find in material things, your bank account or another human being. In John 14:27 Jesus says this, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, do not be afraid".
Inside those pages is truth.
Inside those pages is the answer to your prayers.
You read Psalm 91 and you realize that "Under His wings you will find refuge" when your car breaks down in the middle of the street. He will protect you, He will provide for you and He will make a way where you thought there wasn't one.
So take a look inside.
Go ahead and peek.
I promise you, you won't be disappointed.
"...and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." --Philippians 4:27
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