Ad Astra

Ad Astra

It means "to the stars."

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I’ll never forget that one night I was flying over the ocean. Outside the tiny window, it was the darkest night I’ve ever seen. There was no moon to brighten the sky, nor any city lights below to pollute the darkness. Beyond the darkness, the stars looked close enough to reach out and touch. 

Maybe the magic I had found in Africa was following me home that night. Maybe, if I had been on an ordinary flight from an ordinary place, the stars wouldn’t have seemed so ethereal. But in the years since that night and that trip to Africa, I have learned that there are no such things as ordinary places. 

Some nights, on nights like tonight, when God’s love seems far away and doubts and fears howl in my mind like the wind, I step outside and look up— looking for hope and looking for God. And then the stars come down, close enough to touch and bright enough to reach out and hold.

And somehow, with the stars comes hope.

A hope to reach out and grasp.

A hope that reaches into tomorrow.