Way, way back in the beginning, “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars (Genesis 1).” And since that time men and women have looked into the sky and studied the sun and the moon and the stars and much more. After hearing about the eclipse last year and reading that the centerline would go through northwest Georgia, we spent a few days at our cabin in Lakemont, Georgia.

We were almost, but not disappointed. Just as the moon was about to blot out the sun, a cloud covered the sky. Then I noticed the sun was still shining across the lake, so we jumped into our pontoon boat and raced to that sunshine. We sat in the boat and watched as the moon covered the sun. Everything grew dark and quiet and still, not one animal made a sound through the whole process and the air took on an oily green sheen — until the sun re-appeared. It was an awesome experience, and one we’ll never forget.

I have a “SkyView” app on my iPad and if I see something in the sky and want to know what it is, I can hold my iPad up with the back of the iPad aimed at that object and a picture appears on the screen, and it tells me what I’m seeing.

I also have a “SkyWeek” app on my iPad and it tells me day by day what I can expect to see in the heavens.

This week, leading up to Halloween, Arcturus, a star in the lower west-northwest sky at twilight becomes the “Ghost of Summer Suns.”

It marks the spot where the sun was during June and July i.e. the ghost of the now-departed summer sun.

Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do (Acts 9).’”

There are two meanings for this “heavenly light.” It’s a physical light from heaven that dispels a physical darkness, and it’s an inner spiritual light that dispels an inner spiritual darkness. We spent a week in the dark while our power was out after Hurricane Michael visited us and, we were overjoyed to have a generator and a lamp to dispel the darkness in our home. We are even more blessed to have the inner light of Jesus in our lives to dispel the spiritual darkness in our lives, and I’m reminded of it every time I look into the heavens.