A door to the universe? Wow!

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303

By John Hatcher
Contributing Writer

It takes 5,000 tons of air conditioning power to cool down the Georgia Dome on a hot summer’s day. God, on the other hand, can cool down all of north Georgia just with a gentle exhale from his nostrils. Wow! Can you imagination the refrigeration required to freeze every twig and leaf for hundreds of square miles? God can do it overnight with plenty of refrigeration for a few more months. Wow!

This past weekend we saw giant trees, sturdy shrubs, and elegant Leyland Cypress all bowing down to their creator. They know his power and agility in turning things around in the shortest amount of time. Who else could paralyze the religious enterprise like God as he did this past weekend? He is out of sight. Unbelievable!

The Psalmist put it this way: “I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?” (Psalm 8:3, 4 Ð Message Bible).

I believe one thing wrong with us and our children is that we don’t ponder the greatness of God and his creation until a Mount St. Helens blows her top or a Tsunami rolls over the shore. We only get amazed with God’s world until something goes haywire.

We give out far too many “wows” for things that just don’t deserve it.

We wow Donald Trump and his millions. We wow the dress his bride wore on one of his several wedding days.

We wow Bill Gates. However, more people have a Bible in their home than a personal computer.

We wow the latest technological gadget coming from Japan.

We wow at sports’ stars and their millions, mansions, and motor cars.

We wow more the laser show at Stone Mountain, the largest single mass of exposed granite in the world, than the mountain of stone itself. Additionally, nobody brings to conversation that Stone Mountain boasts the world’s largest sculpture. I say wow.

We give out far too many wows on mundane stuff the world has seen plenty of years and years before. But, pause at the heavens. That’s where the wonders and wows are. The Psalmist, and his friend, God, want us to give thought to the universe. Not so much to see how insignificant we are, but to comprehend just how much God has placed in our charge.

I appreciate Ann Nunan, one of our church’s devoted members, for the following inspiration concerning our home, the universe. Ann is a scientist who affirms Jesus as Lord and Savior. One of many such scientists, may I add.

We live on the planet Earth which has a diameter of 7,929 miles. In comparison to most things, we are very close to the sun which is 93 million miles away. The sun’s diameter (if anyone got close enough to measure) is 865,000 miles, small when compared to other stars.

Now get this: our sun is part of a system of stars called a galaxy, known as the Milky Way. The disc of our galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter and about 2,000 light years thick. The Milky Way with approximately 24 other galaxies surrounding it, is known as the Local Group (just around the block stuff). Yet this Local Group is only a small part of maybe more than 100 billion other galaxies. That deserves a big WOW.

I bet you are wondering by now, well just how big is the universe? Well, Ann tells me, that it is at least 10 billion light years in diameter. But that is old news because it is ever expanding. Now, how big or long is a light year? I have that one down. I light year equals about 6 trillion of our miles.

Let me put it this way. The universe is so wide, you can’t go around it. It is so tall, you can’t go over it. It is so deep, you can’t crawl under it. You must go through the door. Jesus is the door: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved” (John 10:9).

That’s right. When you ponder long and hard about this universe, it could lead to a little insecurity unless you knew that there was a door. Think about it: you no longer have to just think about the stars, sun, and moon. You can know the one who made it all. Now, that’s a big wow!