All of the talk about the recent supermoon reminded me of my own encounter with the moon about a month ago. The encounter was a reminder that the astounding is all around us, but I’m often too busy to notice. Fortunately on that night at the beach, I took the time to stop and be amazed by God’s glory.
In late May my wife Amy, young son Benjamin and I traveled to the Alabama Gulf coast to spend almost a week with her family at a beach house along Alabama Highway 180 close to Fort Morgan. It’s become a very welcome yearly tradition to enjoy the beach with Amy’s parents, her older brother and younger sister and their families.
As we get ready for the vacation each year, it always seems like a bit of a challenge to wrap up everything at home, pack and actually get to the beach house. This year we traveled down there on a Sunday. I spent the week prior to the trip trying to wrap up several projects at work. On Friday Amy and I traveled to Atlanta for an overnight trip to see her brother receive his master’s degree. Then we returned home Saturday to pack for the beach. I played drums in Frazer’s Wesley Hall that Sunday morning and promptly returned home to pack our vehicle to the gills with our luggage and beach gear. Then, we drove three-plus hours to get there.
Needless to say, I was a little spent by the time we got to the beach house in the early evening. After dinner and Benjamin and my nephews went to sleep that night, I stepped out alone onto the beach house’s front deck to just be still and enjoy a little down time after a busy week. Much to my surprise, I ended up having an intense worship experience thanks to an incredible moonrise, an iPod and a pair of headphones.
The house is right across from the gulf along a road dotted with several other beach houses. While there are plenty of people around, it’s about 15 miles from Gulf Shores so it is, thankfully, much quieter than at a big condo.
As I soaked in the breezy, cooler-than-usual late May evening, I put on All Sons and Daughters incredible live album. Listening to the music, I enjoy the chance to be outside and notice the clouds dotting the otherwise clear night sky. Looking eastward, I notice that the clouds near a taller beach house are tinted an amazing silvery orange. The sky around the nearby beach house grows a little brighter minute-by-minute, promising a stunning moonrise.
This is nowhere close to doing justice to the incredible moonrise, but I felt I needed to document it somehow even if on my dinky iPod camera.
The culmination of the album is a song called, “Your Glory,” a nine-minute epic that incorporates the hymn “Nothing but the blood.” The lyrics focus on praising Jesus for His glory. The words say that His glory is so great and powerful that we fall to our knees in awe, and we worship His light. As the song progresses, it repeats a line that grows and grows with intensity each time: “Glory, glory, hallelujah. Jesus, you are good!”
At 10:05 p.m. during the song’s high point, an incredible, bright orange full moon completes its ascent over the nearby beach house. It is glorious, and I can’t help but be in awe of God’s glory revealed through the moonrise and the song.
One thing came to mind as the moon rose: It represents Christ’s stunning and powerful light piercing the darkness of this world. No, the moon didn’t eliminate the darkness like the sun does, but it was a very real and powerful reminder in nature that Christ has come to be our guiding light. He will illuminate our path in this often broken world with the promise that soon there will be no more darkness.
“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.’” – John 8:12 NLT
“Glory, glory, hallelujah. Jesus, you are good!”
Has anyone else had a similar experience with something out in nature? Feel free to share below.
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