Standing in Awe

Tonight, Casey and I decided to go on a drive to plan out a geocache idea we have based on the solar system. (We're nerds, I know!) We started at the SFA Observatory, which is about 8 miles outside of town, and decided to park nearby and just look at the stars. There, I saw the Milky Way with my own eyes for the first time. It was breathtaking. I have wondered before why God would create so many vast galaxies besides our own. What is the point? They don't seem to be necessary. But tonight it hit me--He may have created them for no other reason but to point us to Him. To make mankind wonder and marvel at the beauty, complexity, and mystery that we see in space and to consider that perhaps there is a plan to everything. Perhaps this is not all an accident. Perhaps there is something bigger than ourselves that has created what we see. And if so, what does that mean for me? I certainly felt awed tonight looking at the wispy Milky Way, squinting at the brightness of the brilliantly full moon, then looking away and having to squint again to make out the tiny twinkling stars. I hope that when you look at space, you wonder, too, and you let yourself be open to the possibility that there is a Creator who made all this to point us to Him so that we will get to know Him and trust Him and have a relationship with Him. It is amazing.

When I consider your heavens, 

    the work of your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, 

    which you have set in place,

⁴ 

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. -- Ephesians 1:4-7 (NLT)