Don has a clarvoyant moment in the woods -- his first night sleeping at Black Butte Ranch. He realizes that -- even though he has no money -- he is happy. He has it all. He lays down and looks at the stars. Out there in the wilderness there is no reflection of the city's lights to keep the night sky from glowing with stars. It's a great moment for him, where he realizes that God is there and that God has so much to share with him and time to just be with him. He realizes that he'd be crazy to want to run away from that (which is kinda what he wanted to do -- just sort of slip out of God's plan, His kingdom, His rules).
While reading his description of how beautiful the stars are, I begin to wonder about these "star naming kits" you can buy. For about $54 you can name a star after your wife or son or daughter or friend. You'll get some sort of "official" certificate from some astrological organization that states that such and such a star is now "Charlotta's Sun" or whatever name you choose. I wonder how this company can keep offering this to the public. I mean, won't they run out of visible named stars? I realize there's a lot and that we've barely scratched the surface of what is "out there" in the universe, but when you consider how many of the VISIBLE stars (either through the naked eye or a telescope) are already named and how many romantic people have already taken advantage of this "special" and "unique" gift ... won't they run out soon? I mean, if there was a star that I could see on a stellar map and see coordinates where I could locate it in a telescope and be told, "That's your star, Doug," that would be cool. But if it was a star that couldn't even be located with a consumer telescope or ever seen with the naked eye even on a clear night, what's the point?
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 20, 2006 09:22 AM