Stars

So when I was growing up my family and I did a lot of things together.  We camped, visited almost every state capitol, and went on vacations to rather cool places like Nigeria and Kribi, Cameroon.  (We lived in Garoua, Cameroon so these places weren’t that far away.)  But some of my fondest memories come from those really hot nights in Cameroon where it was just so hot that you coudn’t even sleep.  So my family and I would drag our cots and a big mattress outside and sleep under the moon on our front porch.  Sara and I would be swept away on another “Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod” adventure (told by my father) until we would eventually drift off to sleep.  But before all that we would sing.  It seems like we were always singing something or another.  But on these particular nights, gazing up at all the millions of stars we would praise God,

“In the stars His handiwork I see,

On the wind He speaks with majesty,

Though He ruleth over land and sea,

What is that to me?

I will celebrate Nativity,

For it has a place in history,

Sure, He came to set His people free,

What is that to me?

Till by faith I met Him face to face,

and I felt the wonder of His grace,

Then I knew that He was more  than just a

God who didn’t care,

That lived a way out there and

Now He walks beside me day by day,

Ever watching o’er me lest I stray,

Helping me to find that narrow way,

He’s Everything to me.”

As I grew up and found more “popular” songs this one faded to the back of my memory.  Until one evening in 2007, while swimming in the Red Sea in Egypt I lay back to float on the water.  Looking up I saw a beautiful night sky full of twinkling stars.  And what do you suppose came to my mind?  Yep! “In the stars His handiwork I see…..”  I started singing my Dad’s song from my childhood.  It took me straight back to those hot nights in Cameroon. 

Songs are funny like that.  They bring back so many different memories and emotions.  For me, whenever i see a beautiful night sky, I think of “In the stars….” and lying as a family on a big old mattress staring at the beautiful stars of Africa.