Things thought of but not in this venue for me

We have all experienced some sort of loss, and they are especially difficult to handle around the holidays.  I know I can be a little far out in the far reaches of the universe at times, but it's a very comforting place to be in my book.  I look at the uber-vastness like the picture above and think about just ultra-insignificant we ought to feel, yet God has each of us in the palm of His hand.

If you were reading my bulletin articles before I started this blog, you would know just how much outer space has meant to me, particularly as I listen to some astrophysicists talking about things that are light-years away from Earth, yet won't normally give credit to God for the order of it all.  For instance, why does the above picture seem to be in the shape of a spiral or maybe concentric circles?  Referring to the Big Bang Theory (not the TV show), how does the particle of nothing explode into such perfection?  Some people would say it's still a ton of chaos out there, but I think the above picture says otherwise.  Sure, there is a lot of material in space, but seemingly not all made of the same material -- metals, alloys, gases, and more.  So all of those elements on the periodic table from high school chemistry came from a cosmic explosion of no other material?  All of the atoms, protons, neutrons, and electrons have all been around for millions of years?  And then BY CHANCE, they all come together to create other galaxies, solar systems, planets, moons, trees, grass, animals, humans, other metals, rocks, and so much more.  And then comets and meteors and other "debris" in space continue their own "search" for becoming something larger along their orbital paths.  But there isn't God?  Really?

The other thing I'd become interested in early this year is what our culture has deemed to be known as "ancient astronaut theory."  I had been hearing this term for several years from many archaeologists who came to find many interesting artifacts along their digs to see technology that shouldn't exist.  Realizing that most of the something like the art of mummification was done in thousands of years before Jesus' birth is incredibly mind-blowing.  Or that under oceans of water there are massive stone blocks weighing thousands of pounds?  How could something of that size have been made AND stacked upon another and another and another...?  And not just your average stone blocks, but real BLOCKS -- CUBES of stone with right angles and all?  That's why many archaeologists believe that extraterrestrial beings had to be responsible for those things.  The machinery and/or "manpower" just didn't exist, and if it's a "natural" formation and structure, then God did ANOTHER great job!

Now I'm not asking anyone to change their beliefs about whether or not aliens exist.  I don't know that it's THAT important of a question to answer.  However, I also say that whatever your thoughts are on these things, you NEED to bring them to God.  In my view, HE is the one and only answer.  Not even saying that Genesis and Creation happened EXACTLY like the author explains because while Genesis 1:14-18 speaks of the "two great lights in the sky" that we perceive the sun and the moon, nothing else is spoken of UNTIL Abraham when God says "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be." (Gen 15:5)

Which then brings me back to the beginning thoughts of this blog -- in all that is in the cosmos, God loves each of us with everything He has to offer.  That's called grace.  AND grace comes with the ability to recognize God's presence around us.  In all of our losses and setbacks in our lives, shouldn't God's presence be enough?  Remember a line I heard this past February on retreat "God is relational before He is rational."  In other words, the Holy Trinity exists before the Word is spoken.  In ALL of that, human beings, large and small and those in the womb MATTER TO GOD.