God Has Placed Eternity in Our Hearts
Mike Dwyer / Executive Pastor of Operations and Care
Did you see it? Were you able to catch a glimpse of the totality of the sun being eclipsed by the moon? Living in Tonawanda, I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of it. We had a row of lawn chairs spread across the front yard and had purchased the right protective glasses for my kids and grandkids. We had food for a sort of “picnic” and some Oreo cookies in order to unscrew the tops and simulate the eclipse. We set up some speakers so we could play songs relevant to the event (Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bad Moon Rising, Blue Moon, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, etc.).
We were ready; that is eagerly ready to see this once-in-a-lifetime event. But then clouds, clouds, and more clouds. How disappointing! My son was considering jumping in his car and driving out of the cloud cover to Erie, PA. My daughter, who had rented a cabin in Allegheny State Park just for the event called to say things were no better down there. As we nervously watched the clock something wonderful occurred; there started to be some breaks in the cloud cover, and we were treated to momentary peeks at the event. Shouts of “there it is” and “I see it” were followed quickly by expressions of disappointment, “ahhh” and “come on.”
Rather than run to Erie (my son never went), I prayed that we would be able to see God’s glory. One minute before “Totality” I said to the group that it didn’t appear too dark. But one minute later the whole place went dark, solar lights went on all over. Steet lights came on and we could hardly see each other. Incredibly, the clouds parted just enough that we were able to don our glasses and enjoy the eclipse in its entirety. We watched as the light came back but we had seen it; this amazing, wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime thing.
As we recovered, I mentioned to the group that the Book of Romans tells us that what we can know of God is plain to us from the things He has created. Ecclesiastes tells us that God has placed eternity in our hearts. That day our entire city felt that truth. We know from experiencing that once-in-a-lifetime event that indeed man was created for eternity. We were encouraged to remember that there is so much more at work than we see on a daily basis. I was reminded of the many who are “darkened” in their understanding and separated from the life of God because they have not experienced God’s love and it drove me to my knees. Hopefully that event reminded some that eternal life does not begin with death but the moment you accept Christ. Today is the first remaining day of eternity. Keep looking forward to Heaven. Blessings my friends.