_______________________

Monday, July 10, 2006


God is amazing ...

My friend, Andy, just sent me this series of pictures. How vast is our God?





Labels: , ,

Your thoughts?
posted by shannon @ 7/10/2006 09:39:00 AM

15 Comment:

At 7/10/2006 11:13 AM, Blogger Refreshment in Refuge had this to say ...

I have always thought that the Universe was just too small and tight for God's shoulders... now, I'm thinking that it would get lost in His pocket!

 
At 7/10/2006 11:24 AM, Blogger Nicole @ OrWhateverYouDo had this to say ...

Hi! Great post. I have never seen a comparison of the planets like that. Very interesting. I've never heard of the planets (is that what they are?) in the last few photos though.

Anyway, I got your blog address from Christie over at Crickl's Nest.

I am moving to Gig Harbor soon from Minnesota with my husband and our kids. We currently attend Calvary Chapel St. Paul and are thinking of going to The CCGH where we will be living. We really enjoy the Calvary "way" of teaching the bible. Our pastor is pretty ummmm...unique though, and I think it is going to be hard to fill his shoes! His name is Pastor Chik. :)

Ultimately we will go to church where the Lord leads us, of course! There are so many things I'd like to have in a church though, ideally...

Our church doesn't have a permanent building. We rent space at a community center. I'd like to go to a church that has its own permanent building.

I love to sing, and am really feeling called to do something with it. (I talk about it a bit on my blog in some previous posts). It would be really cool if the Lord happened to call us to a church that has a need for someone to step into the worship ministry!

We have two kids two and under. We NEED to go to a church with a good nursery. Our church currently is taking a 'break' from nursery and having both kids with us in the service doesn't really allow either of us to learn much...

Anyway, your blog is great, and maybe sometime we will take a trip to Seattle after we move out and visit your Calvary Chapel!


At His Feet,
Nicole

 
At 7/10/2006 4:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous had this to say ...

Those pictures are cool!! Puts things in perspective, doesn't it? lol We are such a small blip on the universal screen!

I thought of you automatically when Nicole said they were moving to Seattle and needed a church, then to find they love Calvary Chapel....seemed almost providential. ;)

Christie

 
At 7/10/2006 10:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous had this to say ...

Hi Shannon,

I love to read your blog. We met when you spoke at Mother's Together in Menlo Park last year. I really appreciate your writing and your way of seeing God's world. My husband would really love to get copies of those pictures. Any chance I could get the original files or a web site?

Cathy

 
At 7/11/2006 8:02 AM, Blogger shannon had this to say ...

Amen, Gina. :)
_____

Nicole! Welcome to Washington! :) Gig Harbor is a beautiful place. My sister and I recently went to visit a woman in prison near there and stopped at a yarn shop right in the downtown sectin of Gig Harbor (down near the water). It was so quaint and quiet I wished I lived closer.

We're in Marysville, which is about an hour and a half (or two if traffic is bad) from there. If you ever wander north, let me know! Maybe you could come visit us some Sunday.

I don't know the pastor of CCGH, but my husband probably does. I can't tell you about their building or nursery set-up, but I'm sure you'll find out soon. I pray that you are able to slip right in and feel at home.

I'll have to thank Christie for pointing you in my direction. :) Hope to talk with you again!
_____

Christie ... thanks for the introduction! :) And I agree about our blip-ness. Crazy, isn't it?
_____

Hello Cathy! You know, your name is familiar to me, and I think I can almost conjur up your face. Really. :) I think we talked just before I was leaving that day. What a lovely group of women you have at Menlo Park. I really enjoyed that visit.

About the pictures ... they were just sent to me via email. I think you could probably capture them right off my blog, if you'd like. If I can find out where they originated, I'll post that info here.

Thanks for the visit--and taking time to comment!

 
At 7/12/2006 10:14 AM, Blogger Vicki had this to say ...

Just stopping by to say hi and leave a big hug! Congrats on being nominated in the Beauty of Blogs Awards....http://agracioushome.com

 
At 7/12/2006 3:50 PM, Blogger whaaaat! had this to say ...

That is amazing!
What an awesome God we serve.
I mentioned to my Sunday School class on Sunday how neat it is to consider how big and powerful God is and yet how wonderful it is that he desires to have an intimate relationship with each of us.

 
At 7/13/2006 6:36 AM, Blogger Milton Stanley had this to say ...

I like this one a lot. I'd seen the size of these planets expressed astronically in scientific notation. Seeing it this way makes an impact. Thanks.

 
At 7/13/2006 11:19 AM, Blogger Brad Huston had this to say ...

This is amazing Shannon! Great find.

Brad

 
At 7/13/2006 11:35 AM, Blogger steve had this to say ...

WOW!!!

That is spooky cool! (did I just say "spooky cool?")

Hey I just finished my first worship album. Will be out soon. Prayer request that it will be what God wants it to be!

you can hear snippets at

www.qitros.com

God Bless!

 
At 7/16/2006 7:10 PM, Blogger Becky had this to say ...

We really are insignificant. What a wonderful God we serve, that we can be called His children. I have enjoyed reading your blog. I found it through my daughter, Meagan, (abeeinherbonnet.com). I'm going to be a regular reader!

 
At 7/19/2006 1:18 PM, Blogger shannon had this to say ...

Hello Vicki! Thanks for thinking to tell me that. I didn't know I was nominated until you mentioned it.
_____
T.--I didn't know you were a Sunday school teacher. I'll be doing the same this Sunday with the 4-6th graders.

_____
Hi Brad! Nice to hear from you. :)

_____
Steve! So great about your CD. I almost never am able to hear snippets with dial-up, but I'll try to remember when I'm at my husband's office. He has DSL and I usually save those fun things for times when I have access to his laptop. :) Hope you reach many with your songs!

_____
Hello Becky! Please tell Meagan thanks for me. :) I have a sister by that name, although she spells it "Megan." Glad to have you here ... thanks for leaving a comment. :)

 
At 8/01/2006 6:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous had this to say ...

Well I am coming a bit late to the post, but also wanted to say how cool the pictures are. I am probably going to steal them myself. I did a post on Walking the Solar System that is another fun and interestain way to get a sense of scale. The universe and God's creation truly is vast!

I have two comments for BoringTales: Firstly (which I suppose is actually for everyone!) is that the first two images are jut planets, the third image adds in our star, the Sun. All of the objects in the fourth and fifth images are stars. Sirius is the brights star in our night sky and in the constellation Canis Major. Betelgeuse is a Red Giant star in the constellation Orion and is the red/orange star that makes the left side shoulder.

Secondly is that I grew up in Gig Harbor and really enjoyed the town a lot. It is going through a lot of change right now because they are putting a second Narrows Bridge up between Tacoma and Gig Harbor to (hopefully) alievate traffic. Gig Harbor is growing rapidly with the additions of many homes and lots of larger buisnesses. Definitely different from the small quite town I grew up in, but it is still a very beautiful place!

 
At 12/17/2007 8:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous had this to say ...

I find it absolutely fascinating that you find your god in this; it wasn't too long ago that scientists were persecuted for declaring that we are not the center of "god's creation"--the truth flew in the face of all religious understanding.

Now you are saying that "wow, god is great to have made the stars so big!"

Give me a break.

We know how stars aren't created or intelligently designed--there is nothing mystical about it. It's the result of elementary physics.

In Carl Sagan's The Varieties of Scientific Experience He uses examples of cosmology such as these (and beyond--do you have any idea how many galaxies there are, each filled with billions of stars and trillions of planets) to show that religions, and in particular western monotheism, are extremely "Earth-centric" and make aboslutely no mention of the greater universal truth; that our actions here have absolutely no impact on the universe.

Seriously? Seriously "god keeps the universe in his pocket", but cares whether or not you go to church? ARGH!!! You people are all insane!!!!!

Really, I'm surprised you Christians don't blame the rest of creation on Satan--that it's some ruse to confuse us from some sort of fundamental christian creationist world view.

Whatever. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Figure out if you want to come into the modern world and enjoy scientific discoveries and resultant technologies, or stay in the dark ages and ooga-booga away in temples to your imaginary gods.

 
At 12/17/2007 9:08 AM, Blogger shannon had this to say ...

Do you know what fascinates me? That people who want to argue with you on your own blog always seem to do it anonymously. Why is that?

Between the two of us, blogger from Buffalo, NY, you have the greater faith. It is so much easier to believe that every intricate thing we see was created by intelligent design--and yes, that includes every galaxy, every star, every planet--than it is to believe it happen by a random explosion.

What no atheist has ever been able to explain to me is this: where did the raw material for that explosion come from?

I hope next time you comment, you won't be afraid to use your name.

 

Post a Comment


Thank you for your kind, loving comment. Um ... you were kind and loving, weren't you?

Back to the home page...