Guess who I saw in the sky tonight? My hero, Orion, the Hunter! I love this time of year because Orion's belt is straight ahead as I drive down the road into our neighborhood in the evening. I don't know much about astronomy but I'm pretty sure if you live anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere you will find Orion in your eastern/southeastern winter sky.
Three stars in a neat little row form Orion's belt, one of the most recognizable asterisms in the winter sky. If you can find them, it is easy to imagine the hunter's shoulders and knees extending outward from the belt. To see how the hunter takes shape, click here.
I call Orion my hero because frankly, he is one of the only constellations that I can find, and it just makes me feel smart to be able to name him. I also love the familiar feeling of the season. I know that winter is coming when "the hunter" greets me on my way home from church on a Wednesday night. Stars and seasons, a fascinating thing God set in motion in the beginning. "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." Gen 1:14-15
Did you know that my friend, the hunter, is even mentioned by name in the Bible? "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens?" Job 38:31-32 That was the voice of God questioning Job.
We don't look to the sky anymore to judge the seasons, we just flip our calendars. Sometimes we don't even notice those lights up there. Go outside tonight and just look up. People have been looking at those same stars and calling them by name for thousands of years. That makes me feel so small, but I don't mind because it also reminds me that my God is very, very BIG. (Click to Tweet)
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