Odin's Wain

Most nights I go outside after most people are in bed. I like to go out and look at the stars. I love to gaze up at them. This was one of the worst things about living in New York City; I never got to see the stars. I don't look at the stars and wonder what it would be like to see them up close or wonder where they came from or wonder what it would be like to fly through the gas giant Jupiter. Instead, I have this odd sensation that they are looking out for me, protecting me. When I am standing out in the dark on the banks of the Mississippi and watch the barges float past in the night I imagine that Orion has watched over me when I was in trouble and that he there with me. He is a god who does not know the future and god who cannot do anything for me, but he is there watching. Orion says to me, "J I know it is hard, but I am here."
Recently I read a book that caused me to rethink my relationship with Orion, and has caused me to look at the stars with a wary eye. Neil Gaiman is book American Gods tell the story of the big dipper.

"Odin's Wain, they call it. The Great Bear. Where we come form, we believe that is a, a thing, a, not a god, but like a god, a bad thing, chained up in those stars. If it escapes, it will eat the whole of everything. And there are three sisters who must watch the sky all day, all night. If he escapes, the thing in the stars, the world is over. Pf!. like that"

Now when I go out at night and look at Orion and his counterparts I understand that he is not a god, but a thing. He is thing that could come down and destroy me. I understand him now, not to be my watch in the night but to a picture of my sin.

My sin has been there through it all, watching me. Grinning at me saying, "It's ok J; I will take care of everything." But I understand Sin, that thing, is simply a bear waiting to escape and eat my whole world, and Pf!. just like that its all over. I understand that, by way of Christ's substitutional death, I am no longer sin-full. It is a fact that when God looks at me I am clean and pure, but sin is still a problem. The truth is still there that this thing wants only to bring about death. It is waiting to devour my life. Sin can't have my soul, but this life is still up in the air. God has promised me so much. I mean how much more can He promise for this life than an abundant life filled with peace? But sin is there waiting for me to unleash it and give it reign over my life.

So what must I do? I must understand that there are three persons watching out for me. They are holding the monster in check. They have promised that he cannot get to me unless I want him to. Therefore, I must be vigilant and watch the night sky and tell him that he cannot have me, for my life is not mine to give.