Did you ever wonder?

Have you ever stared into space and wondered if someone was staring back? What a spectacular work of art the Lord has given us to behold. And behold we have!

The ancient Chinese, in the third millenium B.C. observed that the solar and lunar years harmonized every 19 years, watched cometary patterns, and eclipses.

The Egyptians essentially recorded our now familliar constellations in 2800BC.

Appollonius, Hipparchus, and Ptolemaeus collaborated (extensably through generations) to explain the movement of the sun and moon and in the process invented Trigonometry and catalogued over 1000 stars.

Astronomy has played an integral part in religion also. Islam follows a purely lunar calendar. The five daily prayer times are regulated by the position of the sun and shadows.

The Old Testament has several references to the stars and planets, specifically Venus and Saturn. They referenced some of our popular constellations too; Orion = Kesil; Mezarim = the Bears.

Interestingly, the New Testament makes virtually no mention of celstial orbs, aside from the star of the Magi or star of Bethleham.

Lest we forget the Egyptian correlations to the constellations and Sun with their ancient construction. Same for the Mayans.

What are the odds... just what are the odds that conditions could be just right for life to rise on just one of these planets out of an estimated 10 billion planets in the Universe?

Our own history shows how delicate life is. Small changes in climate, the ratio of carbon to oxygen dictate how successful life can be. The intensity of our sun. The health of our atmosphere. So many things have to be "just right" or else, well, I'm not writing this and you're not reading it.

What a spectacular puzzle our God has given us to noodle on. Life itself is as much or more a beautifuly complex puzzle. Think of your body; how complex it is. You couldn't make this stuff up. It would be to unbelievable. Nobody has a precise count of how many cells consitute the human body. Estimates have been given from 10 trillion to 100 trillion cells in the average adult. That's quite a range... not very precise. Just an example of how complex and mysterious we are! 100 TRILLION CELLS! All of them working together (most of the time)... just think of all the amazing things we can do! Imagine the amazing things we can do that we haven't discovered how to do!

Science will continue to explore creation in search of answers. There is just not enough time. Creation is too complex. But the journey is worthwhile as long as we don't lose sight of the purpose and destination. We can attempt to understand ourselves, the world and our universe in terms of how it works. We won't ever know "why" it works... that's not our domain. Science can be a vehicle to bring us closer to God, not eleminate God, nor explain away God. The more we learn, the more amazing our creation becomes.

Have a great day folks. Revel in the wonder of our creation. We are truely unique.