We Are People But He is God

I write to you all from a drizzly and cloud covered Kona. The weather here is reminding me of home. Those of you in beautiful Washington State may already be at odds with the blustery weather conditions, but strangely enough, I often find myself missing those blustery weather conditions.

The last couple weeks, our class has spent largely focused on preparing for our upcoming distribution tours for our book, Sex & Money: A Global Search For Human Worth. Rather than the normal lectures we would usually have during the week, we have received some much needed time to devote to getting next quarter’s outreaches going in the right direction. So far, my team (Koala and I) has finalized a majority of our promotional information that we will be sending to venues (churches, cafes, galleries, and the like.) In addition to this, we have been working on other logistical aspects of our tours, such as budgets, itineraries, and other details of getting from place to place. Fairly dry subject matter to discuss in written form, but I figure it is good to keep everyone in the loop.

In addition to the all-American celebration of Thanks that is to be celebrated this next Thursday (I am thankful for purple Hawaiian sweet potatoes) the next couple weeks will be mostly the same. In the days to come, Koala and I, in addition to our class, would greatly value your prayers. Specifically:

-We are currently working with our contacts in the various countries to arrange speaking arrangements, exhibitions and such. We have been blessed with contacts in each of the places we’ll be visiting, but we could use your prayers to get the right events finalized at the right places and times.

-A lot of times, I feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of coordination that is necessary for two people to take this project through six countries in three months. I know it is possible, but it is evident that my know-how and abilities only go so far. I guess you could say I could use an extension of faith and wisdom.

-With this project, I feel like I am now a place of preparing “to step out of the boat.” I have been to the third world countries, I have seen various instances of need, but to now portray these needs to the western world in a way that will motivate people to act will be something new, and certainly challenging.

I appreciate the partnership and interest you have taken in this project. I believe this upcoming time of new-ness will be fruitful, both as something that increases action in opposition to injustice in our world, as well as something that will enlighten my heart more to the character and competence of our God. I am already becoming more aware of my humanity in contrast to His divinity.

FYI: This last week marks the celebration of the purchasing of my ticket to Reykjavik, Iceland. I think this is cause for celebration. {!} I shall embark for the far north on January 2.

The Looming Distribution

*Click on the pages to grow them into something more viewable.

introduction:

The following seven essays were written regarding the creation process, a process which was initiated by the loving, personal, triune God of our universe. My aim here is neither to be entirely comprehensive, nor is it to be an expert scientist; however, an aim I do have is to direct attention to the nature of a God who is not only entirely powerful, but also wonderfully personal. Looking at the technicalities contained within creation, it is clear that science does not have to be about placing God into any sort of constrained system; rather, God seems have allowed Himself to be made known through all the empirical formulas and chemical reactions that occur within the universe - after all, He was the one to initiate them.

If you find my understanding of science to be dodgy, it probably is. Please feel free to enlighten me to a more accurate understanding of our world.

light.

(North Kohala, Hawaii, USA)

The night is far spent, the day is at hand…

Romans 13:12 (NKJV)

Light came with words. The spirit of God was hovering over the waters in a world of darkness, and with the voice of God, light was spoken into existence. No longer were things hidden, obscure, but they were made evident, defined. With light, we are graced with the ability to take in and comprehend the beauty of the world around us, specifically through colors; colors, however, are not what they would automatically seem.

In 1665, Isaac Newton, at the time a young student in Britain, conducted an experiment with light. Newton allowed a ray of sunlight to pass through a prism, and found that that when the sunlight was refracted, it refracted a band of many colors, or what is actually the entire spectrum of visible color. Newton came to the conclusion that “white light” is not in itself white, but is actually made up of all other colors (Burnie).

Thanks to these experiments, we can know that certain objects are not colored in and of themselves; rather, we only see color in objects because of the type of light they absorb, and the type of light they reflect. This process is known as “color subtraction.” For example, when the three primary colors of the spectrum (red, green, and blue) are directed towards an object, if the object absorbs the green light and reflects the red and blue light, our eyes will mix the reflected colors of red and blue, causing the object to appear as a magenta tone. If the spectrum of light is shone at an object, and all the colors are absorbed, reflecting no light, the object will appear to our eyes as black (Burnie.)

When light was made to exist, an interesting turn was taken for all that had existed previously (at this time it sounds like there was only a formless sum of water). With reality illuminated, no longer was existence absorbed in “blackness;” instead, the world was made capable of something new: hues, gradients, textures, pigment, and eventually even the knowledge of these. With the addition of such a dimension, no longer would darkness keep all things hidden within itself, but there would now be lightness, made to contain and communicate all colors, existence, and truth.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:4-5 (NKJV)

Source:
(Burnie, David. Light. 18-19, 28-33. Dorling Kindersley. 2000.)

atmosphere.

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!..."

1 Kings 8:27 (NKJV)

The English word atmosphere comes from the Greek word atmos, meaning, “vapor,” and sphaira, meaning, “ball” or, “globe.”

Our atmosphere is comprised of four main layers. The first layer, the layer of the atmosphere in which we will spend most of our lives is known as the troposphere, which extends upwards about 7 miles (11 Kilometers) from the surface of the earth, though these distances often vary by a few miles. The average temperature of the earth is 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius,) but for every mile you go up in elevation, the temperature drops around 17 F per mile (9.4 C/km). So, once you reach the uppermost part of the troposphere, the temperature is somewhere about – 61 F (-52 C). Most all weather takes place in the troposphere, and cycles of wind also circulate throughout the troposphere, keeping systems of air and weather properly balanced in different areas of the world (Vogt.)

The next layer, the stratosphere, goes to around 30 miles (48 Kilometers) above the surface of the earth. The main role of the stratosphere is to filter out harmful ultraviolet rays that radiate from the sun. Because the stratosphere contains the gas known as ozone, it is able to protect us from what would otherwise be very harmful concentrations of sunlight. Because the stratosphere absorbs so much sunlight, the average temperature is slightly warmer. Starting at about -62 F (-52 C) its lower part, it increases to as much as 27 F (33 C) (Vogt.)

Above the stratosphere lies the mesosphere, which extends somewhere around 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface of the earth. Like the stratosphere, the mesosphere also absorbs a significant amount of energy from the sunlight, however at its upper reaches, its average temperature is a bit lower, around -130 F (-90 C) (Vogt.)

The outermost layer of our atmosphere is the thermosphere, which stretches to around 370 miles (595 kilometers) from the surface of the earth, and it is most certainly the warmest layer, with temperatures that often climb to more than 3,100 F (1,700 C). Because there are so few molecules in this layer, the molecules that do exist are quickly affected by the sun’s energy that is entering our atmosphere (Vogt.)

Looking at the layers of the atmosphere, it seems as though the layers were designed to act as a sort of filter from the harsh circumstances that attempt to (and sometimes do) enter our planet. Without the layers and molecules and currents running around in the skies above, we would have no chance of withstanding the unforgiving elements that are trying to enter in. Because we would certainly be done for without protection, it seems evident that in creating the atmosphere, and the layers therein, God was implementing a sort of safeguard, to save us, along with all the rest of creation, from harmful radiation, AKA certain destruction.

Source:
(Vogt, Gregory. The atmosphere: Planetary Heat Engine. 22-25. Twenty-First Century Books. 2007.)

plants, etc.

You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth. You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, And the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothes with flocks; The valleys also are covered with grain; They shout for joy, they also sing.

Psalm 65:9-13 (NKJV)

God is the good farmer. God created the land, and the plants that fill it, purposing that there would be a yield from that which He created. The creation of vegetation wasn’t just a one-time thing, but it was something that was designed to be sustaining, that would continue to carry itself out over the course of the future. With the creation of plants and all forms of vegetation, God was making provision for the living creatures that He would eventually create. Some of these provisions include the food we harvest from plants, the healing remedies they offer us, as well as the way in which they act as a sort of filter for the air we breathe, to name a few.

Organisms that obtain their energy from sunlight are known as photoautotrophs. During the process known as photosynthesis, with energy provided by the sun, plants, algae, and certain bacteria convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen. In plants, sunlight is absorbed by chloroplasts, which are basically small compartments containing the light-sensitive pigment known as chlorophyll. It is estimated that for every square millimeter of leaf, there are somewhere between 450,000 and 800,000 chloroplasts. The sugar and oxygen created through photosynthesis provide sufficient energy for a couple of things to take place. First of all, the sugars act as the fuel that allows the organism carry out all processes that are necessary for existence. The plant does make use of a small part of the oxygen that is produced through photosynthesis, but a majority of the oxygen is releases through the stomata (microscopic openings through which the plant can breathe) (wikipedia.org.)

Considering the process of photosynthesis, it is easy to see the importance of the sun – not just for plants, algae, and bacteria, but for the entirety of creation. The sun basically powers the energy cycle of the entire earth. Without the sun, we would have no vegetation, and without vegetation, we would either:

a. Die of hunger, as there would be no food. No, their wouldn’t be animals to eat – without plants they also would go hungry.
b. Suffocate and/or become polluted with toxic air.
c. Both of the above.

The cycle of energy God has created is extremely functional, but with this functionality we are also faced with our frailty. Try as we may to configure our economies and alter global politics and live a life characterized by “success”, at the end of the day, without food, without air, without a God who is love to hold us in the balance, we would certainly waste away. Existence is fragile.

Sources:
(Photosynthesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis#Oxygen_and_photosynthesis : accessed on October 8, 2008.)

John Paul Vicory. Phone Interview.

stars.

(Mauna Kea, The Big Island, Hawaii)

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

Psalm 8:3-4 (NKJV)

Astronomers estimate that the universe contains about 100 billion galaxies, each containing an average of 100 billion stars (Eyewitness.) With these numbers in mind, it is hard to imagine that any one being could manage all these, not to mention all the other life processes taking place, even down to the molecular scale. Somehow though, the one who holds the outermost of galaxies together is also the one who sustains our hearts when we find ourselves in precarious positions.

Within our solar system, there exist clouds and dust and gas. These are known as nebulae (singular: nebula). Often, nebulae will appear to be bright shining clouds floating in the midst of a field of stars; they appear this way as the dust and gas they contain is often lit up by the light and radiation of the surrounding stars (Kindersley.) (Do recall the earlier essay regarding our ability to see color.) Just as we continue to find various nebulae throughout the universe, we find that our universe is growing, expanding, continually being created (perhaps it is an enjoyable hobby to create new existence from exceedingly large amounts of solar dust and accumulated sums of chemicals, measuring increments in light-years).

Nebulae provide a platform and material for which the formation of a new star can take place. When material within a certain portion of a nebula begins to condense into a concentrated area, what is known as a globule begins to form. Because of the gravity that begins to increase in the globule, other material in the surrounding of the nebula begins to be drawn to it. This accumulated material is what is known as a protostar. Over time, these protostars grow, become full grown stars, and as we see with many stars, they eventually die out, either exploding into supernovas, or slowly fizzling out into black dwarfs (Kindersley.)

Hotter stars will glow in a bluish tone, whereas the cooler stars will emit more of a reddish color. The sun at the center of our solar system is a fairly average star. Its diameter is about 870,000 miles (though many stars are about 450 times smaller, some stars exist that are at least 1000 times bigger than our sun). In the core of the sun, hydrogen is being converted to helium through nuclear fission, a process which gives off a significant amount of energy, i.e. enough to energy and heat to sustain the necessary processes for life on our planet, i.e. photosynthesis (Kindersley.)

Processes like those mentioned above are happening all across the universe, at varying intervals and various moments in time. It’s an intimidating reality. What are we that our interests and needs should stand in front of the billions upon billions of nuclear reactions that must be managed, orchestrated? It is strange to find the shortcomings of our hearts and the practical neediness of our hands are suddenly looked after, as we find our imperfect selves cherished by the being who says, “I love you more than any amount of stars, galaxies, or nebulae.” Perhaps this is the more intimidating reality.

Source:
(Eyewitness Visual Dictionaries. The Visual Dictionary of the Universe. 12-13, 18-23, 28-29. Dorling Kindersley. 1993.)