Fleeting moments

Tonight I did something I haven't done in a long time, I watched the stars come out, one by one.  Klay and I were playing in the driveway, I was pitching a wiffle-ball for him to hit.  We chased balls for about a 1/2 hour.  Then a beautiful twilight set in and I couldn't see the ball, and then I couldn't stop staring at the sky.  I found it hard to believe, staring at tonight's sky, that anyone could doubt the existence of God.

What first caught my attention was the reflection of the sunset on the clouds.  The clouds were magical, grey and shadowed, puffy and full.  I saw a sliver of the moon, it was bright.  Then, I saw Mercury or Jupiter; I'm no good at recognizing particular planets... Then Klay and I talked about the stars and planets as they twinkled and appeared, one by one.  It was incredibly moving.

I told Klay it's sad people don't take the time to observe the stars more often, "It's a wonderful display of God's creation." I said.  I told Klay how I used to stare at the stars for hours as a child, and he told me how he once saw the moons of Jupiter through a telescope.  Klay asked me if I thought there was life on other planets.  I told him I didn't know, he said, "The Bible should say something about that!"

I told Klay how that time of day, twilight, was the time setting when the Sabbath began, and, on the Passover it was at twilight when the Israelites sacrificed their Passover lambs.  Soon there were over a dozen stars out...

We watched the night sky darken, and then Klay gave me a huge hug.  We started walking back into the garage.  He said, "This was the best part of my whole day, dad."  I told him was mine too, it was my favorite.  I hugged him, one of those hugs you give someone you might not see for a longtime.  I felt my throat tighten and my eyes moisten.  I thought of how kids grow up and move away, it goes too quickly.