I can see clearly now...

So the other night I walk outside, sit in the grass, lean back and gaze out into the starry night sky. My eyes scan from left to right squinting to see the stars. After a while my eyes fix upon the constellation Orion's Belt. Orion's Belt is one of the more prominent constellations with it's three very bright stars straight in a row. I don't typically do much star gazing at my house in Asheville, due to the fact that I'm so close to downtown and all the streetlights in my neighborhood. When we are in Nicaragua, however we spend a lot of time staring into the vast wonderful sky and think where did all those stars come from? In Nicaragua at certain times of the year and on very clear nights you can even see the Milky Way band as it stretches across from horizon to horizon. It will take your breath away, to see so clearly all the stars that are always there, but we can't always see them the same way here.

It made me think about my life and how when situations are upon us they are not always as clear and easy to see. When your in Nicaragua life seems so much more clear, it has so much more meaning. It seems as though all the worries, and the dailies are a million miles away. Strange I know, because your surrounded by poverty, suffering, illness, and starvation. That all helps you to forget the turmoil in your own existence, to find a peace in your heart and place in your prayers for people who live in unimaginable situations. You look around and see an old man walking down the street with a load of sticks across his back, and you think about the three hundred dollar unexpected repair bill for your car doesn't seen so outrageous anymore. As you drive past kids filling in potholes in the road, barely big enough to hold the shovel, begging for spare change and you think the fact that you can't send your kids to private school may not be the end of the world. Maybe you have just lost your job, and you look around at all the men that are out of work and there is no where to apply, and you think well at least I have unemployment compensation. Yes everything seems to to be clearer and more in focus when your a million miles away.

You fall back into life, and at first when someone is rude to you or someone is complaining like their the only person in the world, you think to yourself "they have no idea how good they have it, their are so many people with real problems in this world." Days pass, weeks pass, life happens, things go well and things go really bad. Your back on the seesaw of life, your in the dailies again; my friend just lost his job, I just lost an account, the dog is sick and need to go to the vet, and Bob and Sue are having marital problems. What are you to do now? You go outside you sit in the grass, lean back, and stare off into the sky and everything doesn't seem so clear anymore, you can't seem to see what's out there as well. You look across the street and Joe's new car is in his driveway, someone you know is having an addition built on, and the plumber next door is slammed with business. With no reassurance in sight you look back to the sky and squint as you scan the heavens, and then your eyes catch a glimpse of three bright stars in a row. It's Orion's Belt, although not as clear as it once was, but it's still there.

I know someone is possibly sitting in a chair in Los Cedros staring up at the same Orion's Belt that I am at that moment, and feeling such a relief, and such a peace about life. I know that our God is so big and our existence is so small in comparison that we can see the same snapshot of the heavens. You can fly hundreds of miles away, even thousands of miles and if you look up Orion's Belt will be there waiting for you, just as our God is. Sometime they both may be clearer than others, but even behind the thickest cloud cover they are always there. Praise God!

Until next time...