Total Eclipse Experience

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

the sky displays his handiwork.”

I watched the total eclipse at Westminster Presbyterian church. I was heading for Spring City, but I realized it was going to be very crowded there and another 20 minutes of driving would only get me about 30 seconds more of totality. The view there was great as the church is up on a hill. So I just stopped and asked if they minded if I joined them and they welcomed me.

It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Up until right before it reached totality you could not even see that a chunk of the sun was missing without the eclipse glasses, it was simply too bright. It was strange that the sun was feeling less intense, but for no apparent reason. And it was interesting to the see the crescent of the sun through the glasses, but what was truly spectacular did not come until totality.

I don’t even know what I captured here, you can see a great
ball of light even though the sun was a mere crescent,
and there appears to be mirror image of the sun to the left.
This probably explains it.

As totality approached, you could see the light fading quickly as it turned to night in the middle of the day. The entire horizon was transformed into a sunset, except the sun was missing because it was high overhead. But the moment we saw the corona appear quite clearly around the dark circle of the moon, you could hear a collective gasp from the crowd. I would love to describe it, but words fail and no picture could possibly do it justice. During totality you could finally look directly at the eclipse without protective glasses. The wisps of pure white light streaming from the black disc was spectacular and the whole sky was an amazing sight. Then, as the sun began to emerge it began as a point of spectacularly bright light on one side of the moon and as it grew brighter it appeared to encircle the moon at the same time it was emerging from one side. For a moment, the emerging sun was encompassed by a rainbow. It was a beautiful and awe-inspiring sight! I totally stared into the sun as it emerged from behind the moon. No, I did not go blind and it was a sight you would not want to miss. In only a few moments, however, the sun was once again too bright to observe with the naked eye.

I snapped a few pictures during totality, but in reality it appeared much larger, the black disc of the moon was much larger and sharply defined, and the wisps of light radiating from behind it where not so bright but much more delicate and detailed than what the camera captured.



I realize the video shows almost nothing of the eclipse itself, but I invite you to watch my eclipse video to share in the experience.



If you have a chance to observe the eclipse in 2024 (or any other total solar eclipse, depending on your location), I urge you to do so. Even if you have to travel 100 miles, it is something you really must experience for yourself!

This is actually the partial eclipse, moments after totality.

I saw a fender bender today, and it warmed my heart.

So, I was sitting at a red light when the car beside me just rolled right up into the car in front of it with a little CRUNCH. I winced when I saw the bumper crumple. The damage didn’t look serious, but the real collision was potentially yet to come. How would the drivers react?

I think we all know how the unexpected inconvenience of a fender bender can cause tempers to flare. Weren’t you watching where you were going!? But it’s just a scratch, why are you making such a big deal of this!? So I watched, a bit anxiously, to see how the two drivers would handle the situation.

For a second, both drivers just sat there. The driver in the back car emerged first. She was immediately apologetic, “Oh, honey, I am so sorry! I was trying to get a bug off of my back...” she was saying as the front driver emerged from her car. As they both inspected the bumpers, she began to offer her insurance information and ask if the other driver thought they should call the police. The driver in the front car responded, “Oh, honey, that is just a scratch, I’m not concerned about that...”

As the light turned green and I pulled away from the scene, I had seen enough to realize that both drivers had responded with nothing but kindness and compassion towards the stranger in the other car. What could have been a tense and angry encounter had turned out to be a surprisingly congenial interaction. After all of the hatred that has been in the news lately, that small display of human decency and compassion did warm my heart.

By the way, their skin was not the same color.