Devotions with Pastor Delinda

A friend of mine posted this to his Facebook page the other day.  His cousin wrote it in a blog, I loved it and would like to share with you:

 “Despite its general dumpster-fire quality, 2020 has given us a few cool moments.
 Believe it or not, we’re about to see the first Christmas Star in nearly 800 years.

A Christmas star is when Jupiter and Saturn align so closely in the last week of December that they create a radiant point of light for those of us looking up from Earth.

Mercy gracious, don’t we all need a radiant point of light right now? I know I do.
 
An alignment between these two planets only occurs about every 20 years, so they are rare, but alignment this close, providing astronomical eye candy of these proportions, hasn’t happened since the middle ages, last occurring March 4, 1226.

A Christmas star that hasn’t happened since the literal middle ages? I think that’s exactly the symbol we need in 2020.
 
Many of us will be separated physically from loved ones this year, and many more are grieving a heart-rending separation caused by death. Over 270,000 of our fellow citizens have perished in the global pandemic this year. They were sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and siblings. So many of us grieve this Christmas.
 
Despite all this pain, despite many big celebrations being canceled, despite family members lost, Christmas is not canceled.

The aligning of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21st will serve as a bright, physical reminder of that. Joy may be harder to come by, but it is not canceled. The miracle baby was still born 2000 years ago. God still took on flesh to show us what unconditional love is. That miracle is still true every single day of every single year, whether that year is good or bad.
 
Family is still precious. Life, even when it is so, so hard, even when it is anything but “normal,” is still a gift.
 
The Christmas Star will be most visible on December 21st, about 45 minutes after sunset in the southwest sky. But it will be with us the entire fourth week of December.
 
I can’t help but wonder if God arranged this celestial celebration just to remind us of His hand on our lives just when we needed it the most.” -Jenny Rapson-
 
Mark your calendar, see the star and worship Him, don’t lose hope although this year may be hard, His love is not canceled, it might look different but Christmas is not canceled. 
 
Matthew 2:2 “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
​
Pastor Delinda