After dinner, Stephen and I went with the Spaniards to go dancing for a bit! Every time I ride a bus into Almeria at night, I see the port of Aguadulce and there is a building that is always lit up by Christmas lights. I have always wanted to go there and last night I finally did! It's a discoteca named Havana and it's hugeeeeeeee! We found a little corner and pretty much watched Guillermo and Pepe dance for an hour haha They were hysterical! The music in Spanish discos is much different to the rap-infested bars of America (my experience in bars is limited so maybe this isn't true in all American bars) and it's very techno I guess. The rest of us moved here and there but Guillermo and Pepe were all over the place. They threw themselves on the ground, Guillermo (a man in his 30s!) tried to breakdance and they did all these robotic movements haha It was worth the extra 1.5 hours staying out just to see them dance :) I left with Yolanda, Natalia and Guillermo and had a great ride back getting to talk with Yolanda about Young Life and our families! I made it back around 2:45 and some how jumped out of bed for the sunrise this morning!
WORTH IT. I have had some songs come to mind recently when watching the sunrise. They are...
1) "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles - lyrics:
Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say... it's all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say... it's all right
2) "A New Day Has Come" by Celine - lyrics:
Through the darkness and good times
I knew I'd make it through
And the world that I had it all
But I was waiting for you
Hush, love, I see a light in the sky
Oh, it's almost blinding me
I can't believe I've been touched by an angel with love
Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new, new son
A new day has come
Where it was dark now there's light
Where there was pain now there's joy
and my favorite...
3) "Amazing Grace" by Jars of Clay - lyrics:
Amazing grace I feel you coming up slowly now
Like the sun is rising, heat on my face
Oh love that keeps on shining, don't let the shadow come
You know I gotta feel your healing rays
While I was looking up the lyrics for these songs, I got on Facebook and my little cousin had just posted a note that hellooooooo was titled "How the Sun is Like God" - so cool! Right here I'll post the part about the sunrise and then at the end I'm going to post all of it because it is such a cool thing to read. The part about the moon - I have always said that I want to be like the moon for God. I want to reflect His love and His glory on this world!
-- But the earth revolves, daybreak comes, and God's light returns with a brilliant display of colors—grace, love, forgiveness...everything good and whole. It left at dusk with this great wonder, but at dawn, the greatness is felt far more as it returns. The sun never leaves, never moves; it is unmovable. It never abandons us; it just shows itself in different ways. And for those who have held out through the night, who have clung to their hope that the light will return, the brilliant display will mean more than anything you could ever imagine.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” Psalm 19: 1. --
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” Psalm 19: 1. --
Read below for the whole thing! To close, other hot summer movies to look forward to: TRANSFORMERS 2 and 17 Again!
"How the Sun is Like God" - Maggie Daves
The whole world is written with God's glory; glory that lies right before our eyes all day, every day, and every season of every year. All we need to do is look for it, and the depth of its meaning will overwhelm our minds. For example, the sun is like God.
When the sun's rays (God's glory, his love, his mercy, his comfort) shine down upon us from a clear, perfect sky, our hearts are filled with joy, and we easily praise him and delight in his love like we delight in a warm, clear summer day. It is during this time that we are free of hardships and worries.
But just as storms are necessary for life to continue, so, too, are hardships and troubles necessary for our faith to grow. When the clouds of fear, uncertainty, lies, and hate cloud the sky, they block God's light from our view. Feeling that the sun has abandoned us, we retreat inside ourselves, thinking that the only way to survive is to hide, trying to keep dry as we lock ourselves up in our houses and minds. We fight so hard to change things we cannot…things in our lives that we have no control over.
What we often don't see is that if we accept what we cannot change; and if we embrace the hardships that are coming upon us—for if it is God's will for us to undergo these troubles, they will come—and if we join together, stepping out of our shelters as one and into the storm, we will find that hiding in our houses does not even begin to compare with dancing in the rain.
And then, just as every storm must end, God's light eventually will break through the clouds and shine upon the world once again. It hadn't ever left…not really. We just couldn’t see it. It was always there, waiting patiently for just the right moment to shine through...the moment when it would mean the most to those below. Who will feel the change more? Those outside, soaked to the bone and weary from living, whose bodies are warmed as the light touches their faces; or those hidden inside, their houses set to a neutral temperature, not too hot, not too cold…just "comfortable"? Lukewarm, you might say.
When night falls, the sun seems to abandon you. Yet it hasn't really left; it is simply shining on others. At this time, the sun shares his glory with a servant, the moon. Reflected on this servant are the sun's love, light, and glory. It does not shine as brightly as God himself, and the glory is not so great. Of course not; the servant’s light never could compare to the original. Yet the light is there, giving you a constant reminder throughout the night that the sun will return.
There are times when the moon—the servant—stands bright and clear, bold in its borrowed glory. More often, however, the servant is not fully there; she moves in odd directions around the earth, casting shadows over herself as she turns away from the sun. She fears being different, being rejected, and standing out from the smaller beams of light beside her—the stars. So although the sun's light always shines upon her, the moon travels around the earth, around the people there, pulled by empty promises, unable to escape her orbit and move closer to the sun; she is only as close to the sun as the Earth chooses to be. She moves away, so the sun's light comes at an angle, and most of the moon is cast into shadows. Her glory becomes less than it should be, no longer displaying the sun's perfect light. The shared glory becomes less glorious.
But the earth revolves, daybreak comes, and God's light returns with a brilliant display of colors—grace, love, forgiveness...everything good and whole. It left at dusk with this great wonder, but at dawn, the greatness is felt far more as it returns. The sun never leaves, never moves; it is unmovable. It never abandons us; it just shows itself in different ways. And for those who have held out through the night, who have clung to their hope that the light will return, the brilliant display will mean more than anything you could ever imagine.
The sun is far bigger than any of us, yet its light gives us life and hope. At times, it will burn you; at times, it will seem like the light is a curse rather than a blessing, as hardships fall upon you. But the burn it gives it uses to remind you of its awesome power; of the fact that we are set apart. And eventually that burn fades into a tan; for those who seek Light, the tan is in our hearts and sets us apart. But if we flee from the light and continue to do so, the tan fades and we return even further to our sinful ways, blending in with everyone else. So we try to seek the light every day, even in winter when it seems as if there is no light left to seek.
The sun is like God. Not to say the sun is God or could ever compare to him—it is simply one part of creation that represents his glory; just as most of the universe is. Just as the wind, and the seasons, and the ocean and rivers reflect God in their own ways, the sun displays his glory all day, every day, every season of every year. It's right before our eyes, never hidden, never masked.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” Psalm 19: 1.
The whole world is written with God's glory; glory that lies right before our eyes all day, every day, and every season of every year. All we need to do is look for it, and the depth of its meaning will overwhelm our minds. For example, the sun is like God.
When the sun's rays (God's glory, his love, his mercy, his comfort) shine down upon us from a clear, perfect sky, our hearts are filled with joy, and we easily praise him and delight in his love like we delight in a warm, clear summer day. It is during this time that we are free of hardships and worries.
But just as storms are necessary for life to continue, so, too, are hardships and troubles necessary for our faith to grow. When the clouds of fear, uncertainty, lies, and hate cloud the sky, they block God's light from our view. Feeling that the sun has abandoned us, we retreat inside ourselves, thinking that the only way to survive is to hide, trying to keep dry as we lock ourselves up in our houses and minds. We fight so hard to change things we cannot…things in our lives that we have no control over.
What we often don't see is that if we accept what we cannot change; and if we embrace the hardships that are coming upon us—for if it is God's will for us to undergo these troubles, they will come—and if we join together, stepping out of our shelters as one and into the storm, we will find that hiding in our houses does not even begin to compare with dancing in the rain.
And then, just as every storm must end, God's light eventually will break through the clouds and shine upon the world once again. It hadn't ever left…not really. We just couldn’t see it. It was always there, waiting patiently for just the right moment to shine through...the moment when it would mean the most to those below. Who will feel the change more? Those outside, soaked to the bone and weary from living, whose bodies are warmed as the light touches their faces; or those hidden inside, their houses set to a neutral temperature, not too hot, not too cold…just "comfortable"? Lukewarm, you might say.
When night falls, the sun seems to abandon you. Yet it hasn't really left; it is simply shining on others. At this time, the sun shares his glory with a servant, the moon. Reflected on this servant are the sun's love, light, and glory. It does not shine as brightly as God himself, and the glory is not so great. Of course not; the servant’s light never could compare to the original. Yet the light is there, giving you a constant reminder throughout the night that the sun will return.
There are times when the moon—the servant—stands bright and clear, bold in its borrowed glory. More often, however, the servant is not fully there; she moves in odd directions around the earth, casting shadows over herself as she turns away from the sun. She fears being different, being rejected, and standing out from the smaller beams of light beside her—the stars. So although the sun's light always shines upon her, the moon travels around the earth, around the people there, pulled by empty promises, unable to escape her orbit and move closer to the sun; she is only as close to the sun as the Earth chooses to be. She moves away, so the sun's light comes at an angle, and most of the moon is cast into shadows. Her glory becomes less than it should be, no longer displaying the sun's perfect light. The shared glory becomes less glorious.
But the earth revolves, daybreak comes, and God's light returns with a brilliant display of colors—grace, love, forgiveness...everything good and whole. It left at dusk with this great wonder, but at dawn, the greatness is felt far more as it returns. The sun never leaves, never moves; it is unmovable. It never abandons us; it just shows itself in different ways. And for those who have held out through the night, who have clung to their hope that the light will return, the brilliant display will mean more than anything you could ever imagine.
The sun is far bigger than any of us, yet its light gives us life and hope. At times, it will burn you; at times, it will seem like the light is a curse rather than a blessing, as hardships fall upon you. But the burn it gives it uses to remind you of its awesome power; of the fact that we are set apart. And eventually that burn fades into a tan; for those who seek Light, the tan is in our hearts and sets us apart. But if we flee from the light and continue to do so, the tan fades and we return even further to our sinful ways, blending in with everyone else. So we try to seek the light every day, even in winter when it seems as if there is no light left to seek.
The sun is like God. Not to say the sun is God or could ever compare to him—it is simply one part of creation that represents his glory; just as most of the universe is. Just as the wind, and the seasons, and the ocean and rivers reflect God in their own ways, the sun displays his glory all day, every day, every season of every year. It's right before our eyes, never hidden, never masked.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” Psalm 19: 1.
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