Chasing the Sun

Our home sits high in Briarcliff, looking north/northwest over the beautiful hill country. I can't seem to see enough of the incredible sunsets that God provides, night after night. The vibrant colors, the cloud shapes and the feeling of peace that I receive is very rewarding.

Tonight, as I was traveling west out of Bee Cave, I saw the brilliant fuchsia sun, low on the horizon, soon to disappear ahead of me, while an intense cloud formation was to the east, with clear sky in between. The pink upper landscape predicted a gorgeous sight. I felt compelled to drive as fast as I could to catch a glimpse of the sun on the edge of the earth as it turned and covered it up.

Of course our globe was moving too quickly to see that, and although after the halfway mark home on Highway 71 the terrain drops ahead of me to view the beauty of the Bee Creek valley, I was pursuing the sun anyway. Even driving 100 mph would not have covered the territory in time.

My small disappointment at missing the sun on the western sky was replaced by an incredible gratitude when I turned north onto Pace Bend Road. On my right, to the east, was a magnificent pink cloud formation. I followed it with my eyes as much as I could, but did not have much of a place to pull over to snap a photo. By the time I pulled into the neighborhood and took the photo below, just the tip top of the cloud was still clothed in pink. What a wonderful gift it was, to see a reverse sunset.

The lead pastor of our church, Ross Parsley, recently pointed out something about the hermeneutics of The Lord's Prayer, where it states in the first line, "Our Father, who art in heaven ..." Early writers had fewer words to describe God, heaven, and the world in general. The word "heaven" at the time of the writing of the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him how to pray, had a different reference than what many people today think of heaven. What heaven meant in the first century was everywhere! God, our creator is described as being in the air we breathe, all the living things we see and touch, and the beautiful sunsets that we enjoy. Many think of heaven as being far away, in the top of our atmosphere, and beyond. This new revelation for me gives me a new appreciation for the air I breathe, the life I see, and the gorgeous sunset that I pursued tonight.