A Mote of Celestial dust

   A mote of celestial dust

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  

He was with God in the beginning. 

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  

In him was life, and that life was the light of men....

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. " John 1:1-4,14

         Above it a picture taken by the Voyager space craft from a distance of 6 billion Kilometres, (4 billion miles).

Carl Sagan said,

"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." Carl Sagan.

What amazes me more than this is that God chose to set foot on that pail blue dot in the form of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ. And He did so to point mankind to Heaven.  Jesus speaking of Himself said,

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son". John 3:16-18.

Believe it or not.

Please think about it.

A Thought

A thought.
Jesus said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”John 3:16 
On February 14, 1990, NASA at a distance of 6 billion kilometres (3,7 billion miles) had the Voyager 1 space probe take a picture of the Solar system. It showed earth as a pail blue dot smaller than the head of a pin.
Looking at it we see just how small earth is in the universe. Within the vastness of the universe it seems insignificant. Yet it is everything to those of us who live on it.
Some have said there may be more planets out there in the vastness of the universe that has life. While that may be true it is our planet and our planet alone that is important to us. We have no other place in the universe to live.
This pail blue dot we live on is also important to God. For He entered the world in the form of His one and Only Son Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.’ John 3:16,17.
When we look at the Bible we must remember that it is not a science book. But rather a book of relationships. Man’s relationship with God as well as man’s relationship with his fellow man.
Galileo Galilei wisely said,

“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, 

not the way the heavens go.”

                                 Galileo Galilei.

The way I see it is God did not see those who live on that pail blue dot as insignificant. Quite the contrary He created them to have fellowship for all eternity with them.
That being said He chose to give each person a free will to do as they wished. To believe in Him and that He created the universe and everything in it. To believe that He entered the world in the form of His One and Only Son Jesus Christ or not to believe.
Thus the choice is yours. Do you believe there is a God? Do you believe in Christ Jesus?
The writer of Hebrews said,

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

                                                                  Hebrews 11:6 

The choice is yours.
Please think about it.

The Grandeur of the Universe

The grandeur of the Universe
The German poet Henrich Heine wrote,

“The grandeur of the Universe is always commensurate with the grandeur of the soul that surveys it.”  Henrich Heine.
How do you see the Universe?
I’m a photographer and the other night I took my camera into my back yard, attached a telephoto lense to it, and took a series of pictures of the moon. I did it purely for my own amusement.
To my delight the picture came out perfectly. Included in several of the pictures however was a fuzzy reddish dot. The planet Mars. Fuzzy and tiny because it was millions of miles further away than the moon.
Space and space exploration has always fascinated I remember watching the Apollo landings on the moon live when still a teenager.
I still follow the various exploration missions, the Mars rovers, Cassini-Huygens, Juno, New Horizons.
The one that fascinates me the most however has always been the Voyager space probes. To date have gone further than any other manmade object. One at this writing is now in interstellar space around 17,000,000,000, kilometres from earth.
Back on valentines day February 14th 1990 NASA had Voyager take a picture of Earth from approximately 7 billion kilometres away. The earth appeared in the picture a half pixel in size. It’s the picture at the top of this article
Carl Sagan the person responsible for having NASA take the picture called it a pail blue dot. He noted,
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.” Carl Sagan.
Sagan was right. Earth may not seem like much in terms of the vastness of the Galaxy but it is precious to us.
Another scientist  Dr. Arno Penzias 1978 Nobel Prize winner in Physics noted.
“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with a very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.”Dr. Arno Penzias.
The way I see it there is a “supernatural plan”. God’s plan. I believe God created the universe and everything in it.
I never debate whether God took six twenty-four hour days or billions of years. God is God and he could have done it any way he wished. How he created the universe does not affect by faith in God.
The fact is I do not believe that the universe came together randomly. I believe there was a plan. That it was created in such away that life as we know it exists.
I believe the Psalmist who wrote,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they display knowledge. 

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” 

                                                                     Psalm 19:1-3.

The Universe from the largest galaxy to the smallest subatomic particle works in such a way as to make life possible on this planet. I believe good science will one day prove this.
So when I look at the night sky in all its splendour, in all its grandeur, I see God’s handiwork. Not only that I read the apostle John’s gospel where he said,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
He was with God in the beginning. 
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ” John 1:1-4,14.
This God who created the heavens and the earth. That “mote of dust of dust suspended in a sunbeam” as Sagan put it. Chose to take a portion of his infiniteness and enter human history to point mankind to Heaven.
It seems incredible I know but close to three billion Christians, three billion believers in Christ Jesus in the world today believe this.
Someone has said Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. I as a Christian believe this is one of those times.
What do you think?
Please think about it.