night hike

          Thirty girls are strung out along the path, trudging through dew laden grass; I am one of the very last ones, stopping to watch a blinking glow worm or run my hand through the whispering leaves. Nothing can be heard but the crickets and our voices, catching the breeze and carrying upwards. City lights are merely a faint glow on the horizon...... far away from our country escape.

 'Look at the stars!' somebody says, just in time for a shooting star to blaze across the sky. The whole group of us 'ooh' and 'ahh', stunned by the majesty of the starry brightness. Silver light fills the sky with glory and you can see the very presence of God written clearly and strongly in the pattern of constellations and planets.

 He determines the number of stars and knows them each by name.

          Slowly, we resume our night hike. A group of friends hold hands in a row and begin singing in harmony. I understand why--it is their way of responding to the beauty around them. For me, I can only stare in silent wonder at the works His hands have wrought. If God is the magistrate of it all,  how blessed am I that my life is precious to Him!

When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,

he moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

---Psalm 8:3-4