Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 NIV
In July of 2020, many in the northern hemisphere were treated to a sighting of the comet Neowise. Comets are made up of dust, rock, and ice. According to NASA, when this comet was near the earth, it was about three miles wide as it spewed its tail of visible gasses for hundreds of thousands of miles. The comet was traveling at about 144,000 miles an hour. That’s cooking, so to speak. For a comparison, the speed of sound is about 767 mph.
As I’ve mentioned before, I know little about photography (see Fireworks). I had no clue what settings to use for my camera’s shutter speed, aperture (whatever that is), ISO (whatever that is squared), and a myriad of other foreign sounding words. So before heading outside, I spent a little time on the internet learning from those in the know.
Opinions on the web differed a bit as to the best camera settings, so I sort of took a general consensus from a few folks, and preset my camera accordingly. I kept in mind that I might have to adjust things once I got a few respectable pictures.
My wife and I, along with our yellow lab, Cosmos the Wonderdog, ventured to the deserted street in front of our home. We were able to locate the comet near the big dipper, just like they had instructed on the internet. I set up my tripod, and aimed my camera as best I could in the dim light from a few distant streetlights. With great expectation I used my really cool remote-control clicker to take the first picture without touching the camera, just like they said on the internet. The subsequent picture resulted in nothing but a black screen. I tried a few more pictures. Still nothing. I squinted my eyes in the dim light and tried to realign my camera to the comet, turning and resetting various dials on my tripod. Still nothing. I adjusted some settings on the camera. Much to my dismay – nothing, zilch, zero.
In my anticipation of getting everything just right, I finally realized I’d missed something important, and this made all the other adjustments null and void. I’d forgotten to take off the lens cap.
Well howdy.
Anyway, after realizing my mistake, good things began to happen in the pursuit of a decent comet picture. The above photo is just one of several which turned out okay in my humble opinion.
Isaiah 40 speaks of an incredibly powerful God Who created the heavenly hosts (and a whole lot of other things). I used to think I could do well by Him if I did more good things than bad. I tried to make a bunch of adjustments in my life, but I’d missed something extremely important – so important that it made all my efforts null and void. I’d somehow missed what Jesus did on the cross to pay for my sins, and I didn’t realize there was nothing I could do of my own efforts to get right with God.
I’m grateful I realized my mistake before it was too late. And that some really good things could take place according to His plan for my life, not my plan. Not sure how you can get right with this incredibly powerful God according to His plan? Please see Got God? Hope you have a great day.