The Heaven's Declare — Part 2

Here's the part of my handout dealing with our "local" space—Earth and our sun. In Part 3 we'll look at our solar system, and in posts after that our galaxy and then the universe. At the end of each will be a "God Thought". I encourage you to read and meditate on them. After all, knowledge for the sake of knowledge simply puffs us up and makes us arrogant—we then become people who spout all the right words and arguments, but have nothing of the love, humility, and gentle service of Christ. And, without love, we have nothing. The point of this knowledge is to glorify God, strengthen our faith, and equip us for the work of ministry. May God bless you as your read these. (Note: Please remember the statement in Part 1 that, though I state these things as fact, I obviously can't personally verify them through observation or my own measurement, and I can't even tell you where on the internet I got them all. Not to mention that the numbers probably change with every new discovery or better telescope. I can say I tried hard to use facts I found in multiple places, and to not exaggerate anything to make a point.)

Earth—one of eight (or nine?) planets orbiting our sun, making up our solar system. Mostly covered in water, it is almost 25,000 miles around at the equator. It rotates on its axis fully once per day, which means we are spinning at over 1,000 miles per hour at the equator. At the same time we are spinning at over 1,000 miles per hour, we are orbiting the sun (which is 93 million miles away from us) at almost 67,000 miles per hour, all on this shell of rock and land and water that contains inside it a core with temperatures estimated between 7,000–12,000°F (to compare, water boils at 212°F, and human skin is supposedly not comfortable above 140°F). And yet, we can balance on a balance beam, sip coffee without spilling, play catch, experience sun and snow, and sleep peacefully.

Our Sun—our nearest star, has a diameter 109 times bigger than the earth’s. We could fit 1.3 million earths inside our sun. The sun makes up 99.8% of the mass in our solar system, with Jupiter and Saturn taking up most of the other .2% (the earth really doesn’t even register on the scale). The center of the Sun is approximately 27,000,030°F, and the surface of the Sun is about 9,932°F.
    And yet, our sun is rather tiny in comparison to other stars out there. For example, Canis Majoris, the largest known star in volume (not mass) has a radius that is estimated to be 1,800–2,100 times larger than our sun’s radius, and to be around 500,000 times brighter than our sun. One site said that if you were to make a model, with our earth a sphere of a diameter of .39 inches (less than half an inch), then, to represent Canis Majoris you’d need a sphere with a diameter of 1.43 miles! And, R136A1, the largest know star by mass (not volume), is estimated to have surface temperatures exceeding 72,000°F—seven times hotter than our sun’s surface temperature!

God Thought: Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” If these stars were brought forth by the word of the Lord and the breath of His mouth, what is going on in your life that is too big for you to trust Him with it?

The Heaven's Declare — Part 1

In early June I taught at our Sunday service a prelude to a Pentecost teaching. In lead up to the wonder and awe that God would come to dwell in His children I felt led to showcase first the size and majesty and power of God that is a part of what makes such indwelling so incredible.

For me the heavens are the place I turn to bring things back to perspective when I am overwhelmed. To look up at night and to start to grasp a fraction of the size and beauty of what I am seeing is, for me, a way to remind myself how big the God is who loves me, lives in me, and never leaves me. So, I spent a Sunday teaching on the size of the universe. When I was done I had shared so many breathtaking facts and ways of seeing the size of it all that I ended up making it into a handout. My hope is to have a website in the near future when I can upload both the handout and the paper I am working on about why I became a Young Earth Creationist, and why I believe the issue really matters. Then, anyone interested can simply download either in a PDF format and either read them onscreen or print them.

Until that website is up, I have decided to print excerpts from the handout in the next few blog posts. Since it is already written the will probably come fairly frequently over the next week. I think that you will be blessed and encouraged by the facts as you reflect on your God. I wish I could credit all the facts and examples in the handout, but I drew them from so many sources I just lost track. I apologize in advance to anyone not credited, and I thank them all for their internet postings from which I drew the information. Following this series I may post some excerpts from the paper I am finishing on my journey to Young Earth Creationist, and some thoughts I why I believe this is a truly critical subject for individual Christians and society as a whole. Of course, I reserve the right to insert some blog posts in between all this as God might lead me, that have nothing to do with either (smile!).

To begin, this morning I will share the introduction to the handout. The next blog post will look at our earth and Sun, and then we'll just start moving farther out post by post. I encourage you to reflect on each one not just academically, but by asking yourself what it means to you to have a God so huge who loves you personally, and who dwells within you as a believer.

Introduction
These “facts” and illustrative examples came from various internet sources in May 2012 for a teaching I gave. I can’t verify them, and not everyone agrees with them. Because we have such a limited observation of the universe, so many are based on speculation and theories. But, even if they’re only close to reality, I am struck by the magnitude of what some scientist expect us to accept about how an “accident” with no Creator, designer, director, or agent of origin created these massive objects and sent them flying such inconceivable distances. As you reflect on this may God not be robbed of His glory, but may you be in awe as you get a sense of the heavens above and around us, and remember,“The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Many times, when problems seem huge and hard, I look to the stars and reflect on some of the following facts, and find things coming back into perspective as I am reminded how big and how glorious my God is. May these things help you, too, be in wonder and awe and peace as you reflect on your Creator.

If, as you follow this series, you want to share it, there are buttons at the bottom of each post to share them on various platforms, as well as a "Print Friendly" button to make them easier to print without all the other blog sidebars, header, etc. If you are reading this and are not subscribed by email to this blog and you don't want to check back over and over you can subscribe to it by email on the sidebar. If you are reading this in an email format you'll need to click into the actual blog to use the features I described. May God bless you and His Spirit pour out on you a deep, deep awareness of His love, power, size, and presence.   —Erick

Partners, or Threat?

Recently I was in a meeting with a little over 20 other pastors and ministry leaders. It was wonderful to see the transparency, love, and support within the group. I reflected on how many times, it seems, however, that churches compete, and leaders feel threatened by other leaders and churches, and how critical leaders can be of other leaders.

I thought back to when I was a platoon leader in the army. I don’t ever remember, on a mission, being resentful or threatened or jealous of another platoon that was on the mission with mine. To the contrary, the more we were, and the better they did, made me and my men safer and more likely to succeed on the mission and at staying alive. It wasn’t my mission, it was the country’s mission and the commander's mission—we were all just partners in bringing it to pass and success.

It struck me that a lot of the way we react to others who work in a similar capacity to ourself depends on whether we see ourself as “king,” or as serving a king. If we see ourself at the top, as number one in our heart and priority, then everyone else working for a same goal as us is a threat. We must guard against them infringing on our territory, or getting bigger or more powerful than us. We are on guard, jealous, self-promoting, bitter. But, if we see ourself as willing servants of a king whom we love and honor, than everyone else working for the same goal as ourself is an asset, a benefit—someone to be grateful for, and to bless, and to rejoice in their success.It is so freeing to serve Someone bigger than yourself!

If the glory of our, and other's, success passes through us and goes to the King we both serve, and if that is our desire and hope, then whether it is us, or them, that brings glory to our King doesn’t matter. It is when glory, or recognition, or achievement is something we want for ourself that we are threatened by another getting it.

I wonder what this nation would be like if every pastor and church leader and denominational leader truly desired the glory of God and the expansion of His Kingdom above all else. I wonder what it would be like if every Christian desired that first and foremost as well, and sought for it in the workplace, the family, the neighborhood, the schools. If our life was not about us, our glory, our success, but about Him, and His glory, and His name—if it didn’t matter if one person every knew our name or what we did, but it only mattered that all that was said, thought, and done brought Him glory.

Introducing, "So, You've Been Given the Pulpit . . ."

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that thankfulness is still filling your heart as the days after Thanksgiving unfold. It is amazing, when we consider that the Word says that every good and perfect gift comes from God, how many things we have to be thankful for when we start to count EVERYTHING good in our life . . . from every breath, to every meal, to every smile we give, to every smile we get, to every bit of love we show, to every bit of love we are shown, to every piece of clothing we wear, to every night in a warm bed, to the Cross of Christ, to the Word of life, to . . .

We had a wonderful day after Thanksgiving going to a local Christmas tree farm to cut a tree for our home. An anonymous person gave our family a certificate for one free tree and we went to the farm to find hot chocolate and a tractor pulling a trailer with a hay bale on it to sit on waiting for customers. The girls had a great time running through the trees, playing with the owner's dogs, and even sitting on the back of the owner's horses. We tied our tree to the roof of the van, drove home under a cloudy sky, and got out some of our Christmas stuff. Before we brought the tree in or decorated anything we sat in front of the fire and read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew (chapters 2 in both) and then we set up our nativity scene (complete with the glowing star I made out of a plastic can lid mounted on an old night light, and a poster board back drop with stickers of stars and a cut out moon on it—see picture). It has been a wonderful few days as a family, and I am grateful to God for the time.

Christmas is always a time in which I seek (and sometimes struggle) to grow deeper and closer to the heart and message of the Savior come to earth. Each year it seems that a different part of the story comes alive for me. Last year it was the concept Immanuel (God with us). It became the "theme" of Christmas for me and, to this day, if I'm heading in to something hard, Bethany will still whisper to me, "Immanuel" as a reminder that He is with me. I don't know what it will be this year, but I do have to say that as we read the Christmas story Luke 2:9 leapt in my heart, as I wondered what it meant, and what it looked like, and what it was like to have the glory of the Lord shine around them. (Luke 2:9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.)

So, this leads me to the title. I am going to post another post in a minute with an invitation to you. If this works out then maybe we'll do this more often. My heart has always been that this page would be about more than me, and here's a chance for you to bless me and the body of readers. So, read the next post, "So, You've Been Given the Pulpit . . . Christmas."

As High as the Heavens . . .

This collection of five photos from the Hubble Space Telescope is awesome and I wanted to share it with you! (I love just cruising the Hubble site and looking in wonder on what God has created, and I have over a gigabyte of photos from them on my hard drive! I put a link to the Hubble site below.)

The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of our God and the heavens are, indeed, massive and glorious beyond our ability to fathom or comprehend. I tried to keep this picture small enough to not clog your internet, but large enough for you to see some detail. Try clicking on it to enlarge it and see if that helps. For the image in this post I brought their 5-picture sequence into a draw program and put in the arrows to help it make sense. In a nutshell, in each case the "next" picture in the sequence is an enlargement of the small square in the previous picture. So, if you follow it across and then down, the last picture is probably not even a visible fraction of the first picture! And this is all in just one tiny slice of the sky we could probably cover with our tiniest finger nail! Wow, when Isaiah writes, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Is 55:9) it really makes us pause and wonder!

Our family has been watching a lot of Creation videos lately and one thing that really comes through in them is just how immense our known universe is. There are billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone, and there are billions of galaxies, each with their own collection of billions of stars . . . and as the heavens are higher than earth (higher than we can even fathom!) so are His ways and thoughts higher than ours! It really gives us some pause for thought. What comfort to know I am trusting my life to a God so huge and wonderful and glorious! (Note: as of 1999 the Hubble Space Telescope people were estimating there were 125 billion galaxies . . . and that was 10 years ago!) I find that if I can keep the size of things like this in perspective in my mind the things in this life that seem really big to me often just shrink as a result.

Enjoy the picture! Let me know if you like this and I can share some more of my favorite Hubble pictures. If you want to cruise the Hubble site (awesome pictures, not so accurate date estimates) the link to a good starting page is: http://www.spacetelescope.org/bin/images.pl?searchtype=bestof . I also have posted quite a few of my favorites on our church web site in the Photo Gallery section in an album called, "The Heavens Declare."

(Also, you may have noticed, I added a few fun widgets to the blog that should be neat to watch as the blog grows. One is a live activity feed which shows where people are visiting from. There is also one that shows the most recent comments. At the bottom of each post a widget now suggests other posts I've done that it senses are similar and that might interest you if that one did, and there is another that shows some of the different tags that I have used for posts. You can click on any of the tags shown and it will show you other posts which have that same tag. Let me know how you like these widgets, I thought they were fun.)