To Number the Stars

As many of you know, I am an English/English Ed. major at the University of Georgia.  That means I am a college student.  That means I have no money.  The English Ed. part means I have no job, because there just wouldn't be time for one.  It also means that I have to drive a decent distance twice a week to a school for observation/teaching experiences. 
This morning, I woke up and had some time to spare, so I looked over Genesis 15.  One of my mentor's and I are going through the life of Abraham one chapter at a time.  This is a crucial moment in his life, and it's a story that I love to tell, so I was pretty excited that this week was the Gen. 15 week.  Let me share with you a small glimpse of what's going on here. 
Abraham is talking to God about how he has no heirs and how he doesn't know how to handle this situation.  He deals with God and the promise of a son.  Well, God puts on a little show for Abraham.  Mind you, this show is a show of God's power and promise to Abraham.  There is an old ritual where men would take sacrifices and cut them down the middle.  They would then spread the sacrifices in two rows and walk between them with someone that they were making a covenant with.  In this case, after Abraham sets up the rows, he is lulled to sleep (by God).  He then wakes to see God passing through the line in the form of a boiling kettle and a flaming torch.  I personally believe this to be a represenation of the Father and the Son together, but either way.  What we do see here is that God, knowing Abraham himself cannot keep the human's end of the bargain, makes a one-sided covenant with man.  Specifically, he promises Abraham an heir.  Generally, God promises mankind salvation.  Now I say it's a one-sided covenant, but the Hebrew people did have a part to play and a burden to keep up, but God knew that their imperfection (and our own) prevented them from making a perfect covenant with God. 
But that's not the important part I wanted to share with you.  It's great, and it's cool, but it has nothing on what happened today.  Before this, God looks down to Abraham (still called Abram, I think I should add) and says, "'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendents be.'" (Taken from Gen. 15:5, NKJV)  God displays his promise to Abram with a very visual and permanent sign; the stars in the sky.
This morning, as I was driving to my placement school, I realized that I was low on gas.  Like, less gas than I usually require to just get home, much less past that to the school.  I began praying that God would get me home and let me gas up so that I may make it to the school on time.  This was my prayer for the entire drive down 316.  Right before I turned on to Hwy 81, my gas light came on.  I took this as a sign that I HAD to go home and get gas money, because there was no telling whether or not I would make it to the school and back without gas.  So I went home and picked up some gas money that had been previously left for me.  My family has been kind enough to support me while I go to school without a job. 
Well as I locked up the car and walked inside to get the money, I looked up.  The streetlight that usually overtakes the sky was out of commission this morning, so I could see the stars as clear as pinholes in a blanket, each one unique and small, yet in reality so great that I would not be a percent of a nuisance to it.  The reality of this did not hit me immediately, but a few minutes later when I started the car to leave, but I was reminded of God's promise in this moment.  Not just the promise to bring Abram an heir, but I was reminded of my simple prayer to get home so I could go without being stranded.  I remembered that prayer and God's promise to watch out for me, and us as a people.  I remembered that prayer, and God spoke to me once again through those stars. 
He constantly seeks to remind us that He is there and that He watches over us.  Without Him, we would be lost.  But with Him, He provides, and He wants us to know it.  If you attempt to number the stars, remember God's promise, and the power of that promise, that we cannot fathom His desires for us. 

PS.  I have been really busy lately, so the fiction writing is coming pretty slow.  Hopefully I can get some stuff done during Thanksgiving break, because starting in January, I'm gonna be pretty non-stop until mid-March or later.  I need to get some of these things finished.  The only reason I wrote this tonight was because I felt like I really needed to.  Goodnight, y'all!