Great Balls of Fire!
- tbrandon62
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
It was about 30 years ago, and I was traveling from my parents’ house to visit some friends in in the foothills of western Maine. It was a warm summer night, and I was traveling along a road that meandered through woods, over hills, and along small ponds.
As I drove along one small pond, I noticed a clearing in the trees as the car pitched up a hill. Suddenly, a fiery object appeared in the sky at the clearing! Utterly stupefied, I slowed down to catch sight of it. I gazed at it awe as my jaw drooped. I had truly never witnessed anything like this. It was a ball of matter that was tumbling through the air with fire proliferating from every crack and crevice. A small trail of fire followed it as it passed over my car and out of my field of view. The entire event lasted for about 1 minute.
I was so enthralled with this object, that I immediately spun the car around and drove down the road in the direction it had gone, but it had escaped me. I stopped the car and meditated on what I had just witnessed. How could I explain it to people? I held my fist at a full arm’s length. That was definitely the size of the object as it appeared in my field of view. Although, I could not gauge the height of the object in the sky, I could at least provide a perspective of how large it was to others.
When I met with my friends’ I explained what I had just seen. Some thought I was lying and others were intrigued. Nobody had seen anything like it, though. The next day I read newspapers and watched the local television news; there was no mention of anyone else seeing this object. But, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind about what I had seen: a meteor.
At certain times of the year, there are meteor showers where small particles burn up in the earth’s atmosphere and leave trails of light behind them for mere seconds. Many people have seen these. What I witnessed was far more unusual, and it was real! Just a real as the many small streaks of meteors I have seen over my many years.
2000 years ago, there was a glorious spectacle in the sky that only a handful of people saw. The account is recorded for us by Luke, in his gospel, specifically in Chapter 2, verses 8 through 15. It isn’t mentioned in any of the other gospels. Perhaps like my friends, Matthew, Mark, and John were skeptical of the event, and didn’t know whether or not to mention it. Perhaps they thought the mentioning of it would have caused their readers to negate it as fiction and therefore discredit the rest of their records. Maybe, the fact that the eye witnesses were shepherds caused these three reluctancy to believe it. Maybe they relinquished the testimony to Luke and did not want to detract from his recalling of the event. Regardless of all this speculation, I believe it was an unequivocally accurate recording of the event.
Luke relays the event thusly:
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. [KJV]
Having seen the wonderous sight of the fireball in the sky, it is still difficult for me to imagine the splendorous scene that these shepherds were entreated to. I suppose it might only be a miniscule fraction as glorious as what they experienced; after all, no angel appeared nor spoke to me.
Whether or not you choose to believe that I saw a ball of fire in the sky, won’t detract from the reality that I saw it. Likewise, whether or not you choose to believe the event that Luke documented in his gospel, will not negate the fact that it happened.
God brings people into our lives to help us “see the light” or have a “come to Jesus” moment. He also gives us free will to believe or not believe that Jesus not only walked this earth as a real person, but that He was the Lamb of God, Who sacrificed Himself for each one of our sins, just as those sacrifices that Jews in Old Testament provided for their sins. If you have questions or want to know more, there are many ministries to help you. Here are just a few:
Visit these websites, send me an email, or reach out to “bible-believing” church in your area, but just do it!
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