This is God's World

Winter Equinox Lunar Eclipse

December 21, 2010

Psalms 89:11 NIV

"The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it."

Several years ago I escorted a handful of students to a national speech and debate tournament in Chicago. The uncle of one of my students worked for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and arranged for a "behind the scenes tour" for us when we weren't competing.

My student's uncle worked as a field researcher and scientist, often spending many months in the wilds of remote areas of the world hunting new species and cataloging them.

He escorted us through back room vaults of the museum where the remains of species were classified and recorded. The location of the world from where they were discovered, the date of their discovery, and the name of the scientist who had located them were all meticulously recorded.

He showed us a sample of the notes he kept in his journal about the discoveries he had made. He told us new discoveries were made on a regular basis, and we still don't have every species on the planet cataloged.

Whenever I read news reports about a discovery of a new species, I think of my former student's uncle and wonder if he is the one who found the species, or if he knows the scientists working on the team that made the discovery.

In November 2008, a teenage girl discovered a small supernova in the Cassiopeia star constellation. These types of discoveries seem to happen to ordinary people every year. The heavens and the Earth are full of surprises waiting to be discovered.

However, God already knows all about these surprises. He placed them there. God has tended to the needs of the species here on Earth and he has seen amazing events in the universe.

I always look forward to reading about new discoveries of God's amazing world. He has created a world filled with a variety of species from the microscopic to the stellar. 

The world is beautiful and spectacular, and each new discovery deepens its beauty.

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Lord, thank you for all you have created for us to enjoy in the heavens and on Earth.