Like God was sitting on a cloud

As I was driving to DC to move some more things into my apartment last week, I saw the most amazing sunset. I had the privilege of watching the sun set from Delaware through Maryland. It was an incredible 2-3 hours of the setting sun. First, it sunk below this large cloud, and a little while later, as the road and the sun moved in conjunction with one another for my benefit, I got to watch it emerge from below that same cloud, and then see the entire process of the sun setting below the horizon.

Most amazing sunsets are about color, but this one wasn't. This one was all about light, about the light playing off of clouds, and illuminating certain areas of the sky and cloud formations but not others. I was entranced. I skipped dinner because I didn't want to miss more of the sunset by spending time inside a rest stop.

And there was a double rainbow! Soon after I took this picture, the higher, lighter one faded and the lower one got stronger, but I didn't get a picture of that one. As I drove down I-95 with my cell phone held out the driver's side window to try to capture it, a cop car drove past and I was scared straight.
The beauty of that drive was unmatchable. My mind turned to thoughts of God's covenant with Noah, and I had to turn off the radio and sing all the particularly joyous church songs I could think of, and then prayed a couple of Glorias. (Who am I?) I couldn't help but wonder how someone could possibly doubt the existence of God in the face of such beauty. I'd been a little depressed earlier in the week, due to a variety of recent tragedies in my community and circumstances that had turned my mind toward the tragedies that had befallen friends of mine over the past several years. The beauty last week was tangible enough to completely turn my earlier mood around. There is still beauty in the world - and such beauty!

It makes me sad to think of how many people on 95 with me that night didn't even look at the sky. (I, potentially, spent slightly too much time looking at the sky while driving.)

What was particularly incredible to me was how this incredible light transformed everything around it. Bridges? Gorgeous. Traffic? Glorious. Concrete overpasses? There is a God!

I know that it's impossible to convey in words, or in grainy cell-phone pictures, the unspeakable, all-pervading glorious light of last Sunday's sunset. I'll leave you with this reminder: Look up!