Total Solar Eclipse 2024

 

On April 8, 2024 we witnessed the total solar eclipse. Since that time I have watched video accounts of other people's total solar eclipse experiences. 

Each time I watch one of these videos I am brought back, in my mind, to that place of awe and wonder induced by standing in the Moon's shadow. 

The awe and wonder of gazing into the black hole where the Sun should be and seeing the ethereal glowing halo of the Sun's corona. 

The awe and wonder of feeling so small in God's giant universe.

The awe and wonder that I felt standing in the eerie darkness, yet beautiful light.

And I feel loved, so loved, by God as he displays his greatness in the heavens.

And I think, "The Almighty God cares for tiny, tiny me. He pays attention to me. He takes care of me. He wants fellowship with me. He loves me!" 

And the tears roll down my cheeks. It was so beautiful! The eclipse was so beautiful. The fact the God wants to show us this stunning display and has orchestrated it for our viewing is also a thing of beauty. 

We had a wonderful eclipse day. We were at a very large park complex in West Frankfort, IL. There were nice playgrounds, mature shade trees, a fishing pond, several baseball diamonds, and some big open fields and a marshy wild life area bordered by woods.

We set up our grill, picnic table, and chairs in a secluded section in the back of the park. We put our tent up, too, just to have a place to relax for some of the children.

The weather was perfect: sunny and 76°F. We played on the playground equipment before the eclipse started. We rushed back over to our camp to witness first contact. It as so exciting. The eclipse was happening! We watched the shadows change. Mr. In the Midwest grilled our pork steaks. We lay on our picnic blanket and observed the Sun shrinking away through our solar filter glasses. 

 Slowly, slowly the Moon over took the Sun. The Sun looked like a golden cookie that someone had taken a bite out of. Then the Sun looked like a packman. Then the Sun looked like a crescent, then a banana, and then a tiny sliver. When the Sun was down to only about 5% showing the anticipation really became intense. The light was dim and bright at the same time. The air was cooler. The evening birds started to make their calls. A planet appeared.

And then everything went dark. Off came our glasses! We had 4 minutes and 7-8 glorious seconds to witness the beautiful corona and look around at the 360° sunset at the horizon. There were shouts and whistles and laughter. The diamond ring was my favorite part. My two year old didn't care for the Sun going out. He said, "Go home." He meant that he wanted to go home. I held him, pointing to the shimmering ring in the sky and said, "Isn't it pretty?" 

And just like that, it was over. The first hair of Sun slipped out and we had to put our solar filter glasses back on.

We ate our lunch and had a happy time watching the Moon edge it's way off of the Sun. It seemed to go a lot faster getting off of the Sun than it had gone covering the Sun.

I am left with overwhelming gratitude. God is so good to me!

Psalms 97:6 

The heavens declare his righteousness, 

and all the people see his glory.

You can read about my 2017 total solar eclipse experience HERE. I wrote a lengthy journal style post for that eclipse.