PALE BLUE DOT ?

Carol and I are in Arizona two weeks, and the nights here so far have been amazing. I was going to use the adjective "heavenly" but "Amazing" is more appropriate. The nights here are clearer, cooler and brighter, whether the moon shines or not, than any other place we have lived. It made me think once again of how amazing our planet earth is in relation to the rest of the universe.

Thirty-six years ago in 1977, the Voyager I spacecraft was launched on its way to the edge and beyond our solar system. In 1990, almost four billion miles from earth and at the very edge of our solar system, scientists turned its camera around and took pictures that revealed the earth as a "pale blue dot" among the mass of heavenly bodies in space.

Astronomer Carl Sagan requested NASA to take the photos, and they became the basis of his book, Pale Blue Dot. In his book he espoused his atheist views that the earth and mankind were insignificant, little more than specks in the cosmos. Despite the magnificence of the photos, he said earth is barely worth considering.

What Sagan failed to mention, however, was that this "pale blue dot" is unlike all other bodies. For example, it exists in a "Goldilocks zone." This means it is in a place that is not too hot, not too cold, but "just right." It is also not too far and not too close from other heavenly bodies, but "just right," and its gravity, moon, atmosphere, magnetic field and molten center are all "just right." Because of this "just right" placement among the planets, our earth can support complex human life, something that makes it absolutely unique.

No other planet in our solar system is so well situated to its "home star" as the earth is to the sun. No other planet has life such as we have it here, with seven billion people living, working, learning and growing such as is on our earth. No other heavenly body has people who write, sing, laugh, love or invent such as we humans do.

And most importantly, no other life forms, anywhere that we know of, have an almighty God who cares for them such as we do. In fact, there's no proof that any other life forms are even possible, because they do not live within a "Goldilocks zone." God has put us here, and that's a miracle in itself.

Even more amazing, we human beings, as frail and faulty as we are, are "Superstars" to our God. Psalm 8:3-5 tells us, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,  the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."

Think about it! God who by His Word created the universe, including the planet on which we live, created us and cares for us. He cares for us enough that He chose to send His only Son to be our Savior, so that we might live with Him forever. 

The next time it's a clear night where you live, go outside and look up at the moon and stars. Look up in wonder at God's creation, and praise Him that He crowned you with glory through the mercies of His Son Jesus Christ.

Dear Lord, thank You for caring for us, despite our doubt and unbelief! Amen!