Twinkle, Twinkle ...

We have all heard that nursery rhyme, that one that goes, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star…” And those of us who have kids have most likely repeated it to them. Did you ever stop and realize that this is the first astronomy lesson? It’s true. Remember that stars twinkle and planets do not because they are reflecting the light from the sun. the same as the moon’s light is a reflection of sun light. I am writing this in Dallas, Texas and it is mid-November. Once the sun has set and it is dark, there are these planets visible without a telescope: Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Venus is a mere 25 million miles away from us, Jupiter 360 million miles, and Saturn 800 million miles from Earth. Now think about this: the distance from the sun to Saturn and back to Earth is only 1.7 billion miles. And yet we ca still see it unaided. It takes a total of two hours, 22 minutes for the light to make that journey! That is how bright our sun is. 

God created the planets, stars, and other things that are out there … and he is still doing it. The age of the universe is about 10 billion years old, but new stars and planets are being born and old ones die. Maybe this is how the supreme being has fun. And they are all different sizes. There is a red dwarf star that is 1/7th the size of our sun. The largest known star is UY Scuti. It is so large that you could take our solar system almost to Saturn, just about a 100 million miles less than its distance from the sun, and put it inside UY Scuti. It has a radius of 738 million miles. And God created both, the dwarf and the largest. 

Some night walk out and away from surrounding lights and look up and reflect on the wonder and glory of all of the stars and planets you can see unaided. There are about 5,000 stars visible. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 400 billion stars, and there are about 170 million galaxies … and God created all of it, and is still doing so. 

The next time you read about creation in the bible, that God created the heavens and the earth, try to wrap your head around just how enormous is all you can see and can’t see and stand there in total awe of God and all he has created, far beyond the limits of what we can imagine. It the words of that old hymn, “Out God is an awesome God.” Truly he is.

The Silence

 Silence: the opposite of sound, or the lack of it. Silence is present in word and action throughout our lives, in song and entertainment and life. We hear that “Silence is golden” and songs like “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel from 1967, the movie “Silence of the Lambs”, a cliché tells us the silence was deafening. Then there are people who live in silence. I’m not talking about dead people here. In the Catholic Church, the Trappist Monks live in silence and prayer and contemplation of God.

We have all, at one time or another, experienced God’s silence. We know that when we pray to God, whether in praise or the request something, he hears us. It is a tenet of our faith that God answers all of our prayers, sometimes with a “yes” and sometimes with a “no”. But how about all of the other times when all we get from God in answer to our prayers is … nothing. Silence. We pray, we make offerings, sometimes we try to make a deal with him. And more nothing, more silence.

 I wrote a piece a few years back titled “God’s Good Time”. And that is sometimes how it is when we pray. We just aren’t ready for the answer yet.

Maybe sometimes God has a different motive for being silent. Think back to the story of Job in the Old Testament. He lost it all: family, crops, animals, buildings, health. Three of his friends insisted he must have done something really wrong to make God so angry that he visited all of these things on Job. We know that the purpose was to show Satan that Job’s faith was strong, that regardless of what befell him, he did not break faith with God. Surely, Job wondered why God was silent, not answering his prayers for relief and deliverance. In the end, Job was richly rewarded by God for his unwavering faith. 

How about us? Do you think that maybe God is giving us an opportunity to show our faith? It would certainly be easy to turn our back on God when we aren’t getting any response from him. Some may even go to the point of questioning God’s very existence. There is another cliché, “Keep the faith, baby”. That is what it is all about, staying faithful regardless of what happens to us, in that silence period. And when it is done, when God responds once again, what has happened to your faith? It has gotten stronger. You have added to the strength of your faith and are more able to resist the attacks of the Enemy. Remember, that in order for a muscle to get stronger, it must be damaged first and the healing gives it strength. The point where a bone breaks is stronger there after it heals than the rest of the bone. So, it is with our faith in that when we have come through a period of trial, our faith is even stronger than before. 

So, why does God do these things or allow them to happen? It could be that we need to discover just how strong we really are. Perhaps God knows we are going to come to a period of trial that tests our faith, and he is preparing us by making us stronger. 

How about you? Is God answering your prayers? If so, great. Are you experiencing God’s gift of silence? Also great! We may see his purpose then or it may be off in our future. It is a gift and you have the chance to use it wisely. So just accept it, just do it.

The In-Between

 In 1954 the movie, White Christmas was released. It starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Allen. One of the many songs was sung by Rosemary Clooney and Vera Allen. That song was “Sisters”. The last two lines of the song are:

 “Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister.

             And Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man.” 

It was a cute and humorous song and, yes, it is out there on YouTube. (You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?) 

The simple message is obvious, of course, that neither sister would let someone coming between them and, equally, neither sister would tolerate her sister interfering with her and her man. 

Let me expand on that a bit and how that sentiment should be a part of our lives. Bottom line, what do you allow to come between you and the rest of your life and your life around you. Do you allow your job or hobby take you away from your family, whether that be parents and siblings or spouse and children? Yes, most of us have to work and having a hobby or other outside interest is not a bad thing. It is finding the right balance that is important. Sometimes that which comes between a couple is when one spouse has an affair. There is no way to balance that. 

How about the spiritual side of your life? Those of us who are believers need and want God to be an integral part of our lives. Yet, too many of us allow or even encourage something or someone to come between us and God. On a day when you should be focusing on God, what is there instead? I know that not everyone who believes in God goes to church. There are many who worship God in private or worship online or by watching a service on television. Is what comes between us, between work, a hobby, the worn out statement that starts with, “This is the only day I can …”? Really? Of the 168 hours in a week, there isn’t any way to fix your activities so you can give one or two to God? If you developed a new interest, I’ll bet you would find some way to adjust your schedule to fit it in. God isn’t a new interest, but why not treat it that way? If you can fit in a new hobby or activity, then you can definitely find time for God. It is all about what is really important. 

Life is what it is and there are many parts to it. Is God one of those parts? If not, what is coming between you and the one who created you and loves you? What can you do to change it? More importantly, what are you going to do to change it? To paraphrase the last line of that song: 

“Lord help the (something) that comes between me and my God.”

It's Reality

Recently I was looking for a book to read. I am one of those people who always have at least one book in progress, sometimes two or three. Looking through the books and wanting something I had not read in a while, I picked up “Heaven Is For Real" by Todd Burpo. It is a true story about his son, Colton. A couple of months before his fourth birthday, he became extremely sick and was finally diagnosed with a burst appendix and was taken into emergency. While he was in surgery, he went to heaven. He met the Trinity, a grandfather he never knew and a sister whom his mother lost while pregnant. He saw many and experienced many wonderful things. I’m not going to recreate the book or the subsequent movie other than to say you should read the book. One of the interesting photos in the book is a painting of Jesus Christ. It was done by an eight year old girl, Akiane Kramarik, who had started having visions of heaven when she was four. When Colton saw the painting, he told his dad that this is what Jesus looks like.

It would be easy to blow off the book or Colton’s experiences. After all, there are other books by people who had near-death experiences and saw Jesus and dead relatives. Some scientists and doctors debunk the stories by saying these people were starved for oxygen and these were hallucinations. I don’t know whether they are true or not. Colton’s story is totally believable. Go read it.

Throughout the book, Colton describes his experiences in bits and pieces. He tells many details about what heaven is like, both in terms of everyone he met and what it looked like, a place of wonder and beauty. We have other descriptions of heaven, Revelations and other parts of the bible. Colton’s descriptions of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, bring a reality to just how wonderful and loving they are, and what being in heaven is like. This is the reward that awaits us when it is our turn to go. It is far more vivid and real than the other descriptions from the many ministers I have heard. 

This is what awaits you, as God’s good and faithful servant. This is your reward for being one of God’s people. So the message of this writing is to follow him, obey his laws and commandments and live forever in eternity in the presence of God’