Here comes… er, there goes the sun

ByDeborah Raney
12 Comments

Today brings a total solar eclipse that will be visible in America throughout the 48 contiguous states. I feel very blessed that we live in the middle of the narrow path of full totality here in the southeast corner of Missouri.

Ken and I are excited (and prepared, thanks to our local public library giving free special eclipse glasses to library card holders!) to watch the eclipse from our yard this afternoon around 2 p.m. Our area will have one of the longer durations of totality at more than four minutes. If I capture some great photos, I will come back and include them at the end of this post later today.

It’s pretty amazing that we live in an age when these phenomena are not only understood scientifically, but can be predicted so that we can prepare for them. I can’t help but think how terrifying it must have been centuries ago when an eclipse happened without warning.

That said, perhaps we take these incredible celestial events too scientifically and too lightly these days. The Bible speaks often of God using His creation—especially the sun, moon, and stars—to foretell, celebrate, warn, and to glorify the Creator. The Gospel Coalition has some good information HERE about the biblical significance of eclipses.

Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that the last total eclipse in 2017 was the first total solar eclipse to visit only the United States since 1776? Does that date ring a bell? (Pun intended!)

Will you be able to see a total eclipse where you live? If not, do you have plans to drive or fly to a location where there will be totality? Do you have memories of other solar or lunar eclipses during your lifetime?

As promised, here are some images from the eclipse. It was pretty amazing! Especially the darkness and the streetlights coming on at 2 p.m.!

Our daughter got a pretty good video of the moment of totality here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYT-BRSuPGs

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DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a four-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

12 Comments

  1. Not in the path of the total eclipse here in Virginia Beach, but will be looking forward to our partial eclipse. I ordered the special glasses and gave them out to family yesterday. I am picking up my 16 year old granddaughter from school all this week. They dismiss at 2:00 p.m., and our partial eclipse begins at 2:04, lasting until 4:32. I gave the remainder of my 12 pack of glasses (8) to her, to distribute to friends.

    Thanks for this information. Looking forward to your experiences from the total eclipse!

  2. I’m not planning to do much eclipse watching this year (I’m west of the direct path), but my daughter and I had fun watching the nearly full eclipse last October. My husband is at a conference for work down in San Antonio today, so he might get a better chance to view it. It makes me think of the sun going dark when Jesus died. But that lasted for 3 hours. No mere eclipse could explain that. Only the God who created nature could have the power to break all the scientific rules.
    Have fun watching!

  3. The Boise area was on the edge of the path of the 2017 eclipse. I didn’t both to drive north about 50 miles and it was awesome right in my own backyard. What I remember most is the silence that came with the eclipse. The animal kingdom went completely quiet, as if it were night. Even the earth seemed to hold its breath.

    1. Oh! Thank you for that reminder to not only watch, but to LISTEN as well! Love that metaphor of the earth holding its breath in awe of its Creator!

  5. We had a partial solar eclipse here in the DC region–worthwhile seeing just the same! My colleague and I took turns seeing the eclipse this afternoon.
    I’m keeping my pair of eclipse glasses as a souvenir.

  6. We were not too far from totality here in Neosho, Missouri. (96%) It just looked kinda hazy & as if there were clouds, but there was still plenty of sunshine & shadows. It’s amazing to think about how BRIGHT the sun must be to still shine that much even though it was 96% covered!! I went to my husband’s workplace to watch with him, our son (who also works there), his wife, & a few of their coworkers. We didn’t get any good pics of the eclipse, but got a few of us for memory’s sake. 🙂
    *You got some great pics!!

    1. It was surprising how dark it got at totality but even more surprising to me was how BRIGHT it got with just a tiny rim of sun on the other side of totality. There’s a lesson there: it doesn’t take much light to overcome the darkness!

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