Blinding Moment of Awe and Humility

There is nothing like a good meteor strike to put things back into perspective.  If you saw any of the videos of the "small" meteor that entered the earth's atmosphere over central Russia, you know what I mean.

Up to this kind of an experience. most of us in developed countries lucky enough to have three squares and a roof over our heads feel that we have the handle on the steering wheel of life.  Then a meteor crashes through all of that and we are left feeling small, vulnerable and awestruck. Awe is good; it puts us in our place.

Nature has a way of doing that to us whether it is a snow storm of the century, a night on the ocean in a gale (no matter how big the boat), or standing in the midst of the Rockies looking up, open-mouthed at the "14 ers" surrounding you.  You realize in a blinding flash (quite literally in Russia) that you are a small, frail creature surrounded by magnitudes of power you never imagined.

Just such a thought crossed David's mind, I imagine, one night when he was on the run, a hunted pretender to the throne of Israel.

Psalm 8
For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1O LORD, our Lord,
  How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
  Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
2From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
  Because of Your adversaries,
  To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
3When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
  The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
4What is man that You take thought of him,
  And the son of man that You care for him?
5Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
  And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
  You have put all things under his feet,
7All sheep and oxen,
  And also the beasts of the field,
8The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
  Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9O LORD, our Lord,
  How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Try to put yourself in the place where you can be awestruck; it does a world of good to put things in perspective again.  In the meantime, watch this video of the meteor exploding over Russian and consider the awesome power unleashed in the twinkling of an eye.