The Sun Column Parable

We were bustling eastward down the interstate at 70 miles per hour just east of Columbia, Missouri in late 2019. The pattern of clouds in the west, judging from my glances in the rear view mirror, suggested that a sun column might be possible in a few minutes.

I have seen a few, and most were pretty but with low contrast. None were convenient to photograph. I told my Lovely (my wife, Faylene) about one such instance in Pennsylvania over 30 years prior to this event, where I was headed west near sunset and saw a pretty one, but it was very brief and there was no opportunity to stop and enjoy it. By the laws related to light, they are extremely fleeting. A good one is hard to catch, much less to photograph or sketch. A sketch would have to be by memory, because they only last a few minutes. Even to see one, the clouds must be present at a certain position and thickness, the sun must be in a perfect position near the horizon, and there must be correct conditions along the line of sight to the observer.

As I glanced in the rear view mirror a few minutes later I saw that one had formed and was getting brighter. Now I needed an overpass exit with no interference from topography within a minute or two. The column went in and out of view among the trucks, cars, and curves. One and the only exit appeared quickly at the next bend. It took less than a half a minute to pull off the up-ramp, grab the only curb available, and watch the event. It was simply magnificent. I took one picture, and we just watched until it left. In two minutes most of it was gone.

The picture I took was used to paint a pizza paddle that I had saved to render something unique. This December, more than a year after the event, I lived it all over again as I prepared the paddle, developed the painting, and covered it two coats of a clear satin finish.

So it is with life: so fleeting, so quick, and so easily considered normal, but it is not. If it seems so casual, the person has forgotten the Creator, who has given life. The exhortations to remember God are so prolific in the Bible that they form a thread. With this thread is another thread, where God reminds people that the earth and the heavens are not made by the hand of nature, as popularly taught. As a matter of biblical fact, He constructed all of creation, and it is intended to point us to Him.

Even if a person realizes that something must have caused all this, one has to stop and seriously consider it, just like we had to stop to take the uncommon opportunity to observe the sun column. Several hundred cars passed us; no one stopped to look — on either side of the highway. So, one has to stop, think, take stock of the universe and the world around us, and reach out to God. He does not force, but He does remind us.

But, those times are fleeting when we are so busy believing that it all continues as it always has, forgetting Him and, thereby, denying that He had any part. Oh my! Remember the brevity of this scene: either the one painted, or the more real scene God paints around us in the heavens and on the earth. It is no accident. It is His hand. We were intended to reach out to Him if we see His hand. It is the point of Acts 17:24-27 as Paul talked to the Athenians and what Isaiah says in chapter 51: 12-13:

…I am he who comforts you;
      who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
          of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
              who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,
                 and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor …

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If you have never reached out to God in a real way, the Good News of the Gospel says that you can. Talk to Him. Get a Bible and read any of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and read the extraordinary story of God’s mercy and grace to reach people. It was spoken of through the older books of the Old Testament. His creation is introduced in Genesis 1 and 2. What happened when people forget Him is described in Genesis 3 and following.

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An extraction of the original painting is on the left and below; an extraction from the original photograph is on the bottom right.