EARTH

Speeding around the sun at 18.5 miles per second, the earth completes one orbit every 365 days, rotating on its axis every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.  Its slightly elliptical orbit of almost 93 million miles from the sun provides exactly the right conditions for life to flourish.  Any closer to its star, and the planet’s water would vaporize; any further away, and it would freeze solid. 

Living creatures on earth breathe an atmosphere composed of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, with the rest comprised of argon, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases.  This mixture prevents most ultraviolet light from reaching the planet’s surface; without such a screen, life as we know it could not exist. 

The earth boasts a mass of approximately 6x10 ²¹   metric tons and a surface area of about 197 million square miles.  A crust about 21 miles thick lies under the continents; it shrinks to three miles under the oceans.  Beneath the crust stretches a mantle about 1,800 miles deep; below that lies a molten core composed mostly of iron.  This core likely is divided into two parts, an outer, fluid region, and an extremely dense, solid region about 1,500 miles across – all extremely hot.  It is estimated that an electric current constantly flowing in the outer core generates approximately 90 percent of earth’s magnetic field.  This magnetosphere extends about 90 miles above the earth’s surface, trapping rapidly moving charged particles emanating from solar winds.  Without this magnetic shields, all life on earth would perish in a bombardment of deadly cosmic radioactivity.  What a complex, unique marvel is the earth!

AND YET….

Although top scientists are only beginning to understand the sophisticated design of our planet, without the slightest effort God has always fully  “comprehended the vast expanses of the earth” (Job 38:18).  It is He who “suspends the earth over nothing” (Job 26:7) and He who “sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).  No wonder the Psalmist exclaims, “How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!” (Psalm 47:2), for as Jeremiah says,

“GOD MADE THE EARTH BY HIS POWER; HE FOUNDED THE WORLD BY HIS WISDOM.”

(Jeremiah 10:12)

“How Majestic is Thy Name”, 2001.  www.newleafpress.net

SUN

It may look like a tiny eyeball peering through the sky’s backyard fence, but our sun has a volume 1.3 million times that of the earth and accounts for 99.8 percent of the total mass of the solar system.  It looks so small because we’re in orbit at a distance of nearly 90 million miles.  Good thing we’re that far away too.  If you dared to touch it, you’d instantly vaporize from its surface temperature of about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit – chilly by comparison to the solar core, which burns at an impossible 27 million degrees.  The sun continually turns hydrogen into helium through the process of fusion, converting 4million tons of matter into energy every second.

Astronomers consider the sun to be an average star in mass, size and brightness, and say that if it continued on an average course, it would eventually become a red giant, engulf Mercury and Venus, blow away the earth’s atmosphere and boil its oceans.  In the end it would turn into a white dwarf star – a solid ball about the size of earth, with a density 50,000 times that of water, perhaps covered by a thin layer of ice and an atmosphere a few yards thick.  But don’t be too alarmed; scientists figure such a catastrophe won’t happen for a very, very long time. 

Light from the sun makes possible all life on earth.  When we burn wood or coal, we’re actually releasing stored energy from the sun.  And more than light reaches us from our star.  Solar winds – charged particles continually flowing from the sun’s corona – move through space at speeds of more than 400 miles per second, reaching at least to the orbit of Neptune.  When gigantic magnetic storms on the sun (some measuring 31,000 miles across) eject strong solar winds toward earth, they produce spectacular “Northern Lights” displays on some parts of our planet through interaction with earth’s atmosphere.  Nothing mankind has conceieved can rival the sun.

AND YET…

Knowing that humans would be tempted to worship the sun He created, God called it merely a “greater light to govern the day” (Genesis 1:16).  The sun may be mighty, but when the Lord orders it to retreat, it hustles backwards (Isaiah 38:8).  Even if He should command it to stop shining, it would instantly go black (Job 9:7).  God uses the power of the sun to strengthen us, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides Him.

“I AM THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER. I FORM THE LIGHT AND CREATE DARKNESS, I BRING PROSPERITY AND CREATE DISASTER; I, THE LORD, DO ALL THESE THINGS.” (Isaiah 45:6-7)

“How Majestic is Thy Name”, 2001.  www.newleafpress.net

STARS

From the very beginning, human beings have craned their necks toward the night sky and stared in wonder at the stars. 

How many there are!

How tiny!

And so near, it seems as though one could reach out and touch them.  This is one case where appearances can badly mask the truth.  For in reality, the universe contains untold trillions of stars, not the mere thousands that can be seen from earth by the naked eye.  Some 100 billion stars light up the Milky Way galaxy alone – and the cosmos harbors billions of galaxies, some vastly larger than our own.

And tiny?  Hardly.  Some of those twinkling little specks of light – such as the red giant Betelgeuse – are actually  up to 500 times larger than our own sun.  Of course, other stars may take up far less space.  A star massive enough to create a supernova, for example, may after the explosion shrink to a sphere no larger than twelve to thirty miles in diameter.  But don’t plan on visiting it any time soon; it would still have a mass several times that of the sun and a density millions times greater.  A teaspoon of it would weigh thousands of tons.

And forget about near.  The closes star to earth is Proxima Centauri. If you could travel at the speed of light, it would take you 4.3 years to get there – but at the fastest speeds humankind has thus far achieved, it would take almost 280 centuries.  When you consider that the Milky Way galaxy alone stretches some 70,000 light years across, you stop talking about “near.”

AND YET…

God not only created the stars (Genesis 1:16), He set each one in place (Psalm 8:3).  The stars may look impossibly bright to us, but in His eyes not even the stars are pure (Job 25:5).  The psalmist calls upon the stars to praise God (Psalm 148:3) and our Lord warns us not to worship the starry host (Deuteronomy 4:19).  Though they stagger us, they hide no secrets from Him:

“HE DETERMINES THE NUMBER OF THE STARS AND CALLS THEM EACH BY NAME.” GREAT IS OUR LORD AND MIGHTY IN POWER; HIS UNDERSTANDING HAS NO LIMIT.” (Psalm 147:4-5)

“How Majestic is Thy Name”, 2001.  www.newleafpress.net

delighting in the Grandeur of God

As I was going through my leftover boxes I found this book.  I remember getting it at some close out bookstore sale for just a couple of dollars.  Flipping through the pages I was reminded why I didn’t get rid of this book with the others, as I was purging my life.  The beauty of the photographs and the truth written pierces my soul. 

I have never been fond of science, but remember how this book grabbed my attention, because of its simple explanation of some of life's phenomena’s and portrayal of those wonders in Gods Word. 

It is a treasure I do not want to conceal to collect dust in a box, and thus I thought I would share it with you all within the next few blogs.

I am taking the time to retype a book, so I hope you will take the time to read the blog.  One a time.

Let us Delight in the Grandeur of our God, together.

burned but not abandoned

As I was out on a morning walk, I saw this house that has obviously suffered through a harsh fire recently.  In the neighborhood with other homes well taken care of, it looked abandoned.  There was a guy doing something in the rumble of it all, and it made me think....

Have you been burned?

Has your heart, your health or your mind suffered some intense flames?  Have you been damaged? Broken? Disfigured?  Dirtied? Suffocating in the smoke of the after affects?

Burned, but not abandoned. 

Whatever happened to you – in whatever way.. you have not been left to mend the wounds all alone.  Although it might feel this way.  It might seem like no one is there.  The windows are broken and its all deserted.  But the Lord, the Author, The Designer knows.  He Knows the original intent, and He does not abandon.

He sees.

He Loves.

He Restores.
Remodels.

Mends.

Heals.

He turns Ashes into Beauty.

Always.

Sometimes it just takes a little time for reconstruction. 

But He does the work.  He can.  And He Will. 

Just let Him.

Hand over the rights. 

Hand over the ownership.

He is a rich landlord that invests without holding back.

He will do it! 

He will restore!

Redeem and make a comfortable, lovely dwelling for Himself in you once again.

He will!

Beauty from Ashes.

sex or no sex

To Husband and Wife: “Do not deprive each other.. so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self control.”  1 Corinthians 7:5

Yesterday I spoke with a friend of mine, and she shared something profound with me.  That in marriage a wife often tries to ‘punish’ her husband by withholding sex from him and THAT actually opens up the door wide open for Satans temptations. 

Interesting that before marriage Satan tempts people TO HAVE SEX. 

And after marriage the temptation is NOT TO HAVE SEX.

Both open the door for Satans influence and works against ourselves, because it is out of Gods Design.

So in marriage, a husband and wife should NOT deprive each other because it will bring division.  Yet before marriage people MUST DEPRIVE their own bodies, and each other so that it will NOT bring division later in marriage.

Bottom line:

SEX outside of marriage is destructive.

NO SEX in marriage is destructive. 

narrow path

It's been too long since I have written a blog.  Infact, the last blog I wrote from another state, and the one prior to that was from another continent.  Being back in America has had its poll.  Life is busy here.  Regardless the hecticness around me I want to Choose and remain calm.
I want to narrow my focus.  
Narrow my path.  
All I want to see before me is Jesus.  I do not want to be distracted by all the possibilities this land of opportunity brings.  Even in ministry there are tons of things to do, people to help.. I only want to do what I see my Father doing.  I do not want to be distracted by all the great things that I 'could' get involved in.  I want to be narrow in my perspective.  The road before me is wide and broad.  How do I keep my vision narrow?  When everyone wants you to be open minded, with wide perspective and vision to the horizon, how do I keep my heart single focused on Gods word alone?  o Help me Lord!