Kevin (Commissioner Kevin Ross) snagged some of those promo-gimmick-look-at-the-eclipse sun glasses yesterday. I am glad he did – we got to look at the eclipse. By and large, it looked like the photos you have seen smattered across social media.
We went to lunch in downtown Greeley and saw many folks on the sidewalks, looking up at the sun. We used our promo gimmick sun glasses a few more times, gladly sharing them with others who were walking by. I gave mine to a delivery driver – he was almost giddy.
All those people starring at the eclipse. What were they thinking? For as big a guy as I am, my thoughts turned to how small I am. The moon – some 240,000 miles away – passed in front of the sun – some 93.114 million miles away – and provided us all with a momentary distraction. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. It takes the light from the sun about 9 minutes to shine on our faces here on planet earth.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains approximately 100 billion stars. Scientists make a WAG (wild-assed guess) of between 100 and 200 billion planets. Even more mind-boggling – scientists make another WAG and approximate there are two trillion galaxies in the universe. We are teeny, tiny, specks in a massive, huge galaxy which is a teeny, tiny, speck in a massive, huge universe. And it is all perfectly designed and lovingly inventoried and known by the Creator, God.
The wildest part? He knows my name. The number of hairs on my head (a daily exercise in subtraction for the Father). The number of my days. The desires of my heart. My sins. My sadness. My hopes. My dreams. He knows me. And somehow He loves me – with a love as big as the very universe He spun up.
Similar to the folks I saw at lunch yesterday, the Psalmist, who did not have gimmicky promo sun glasses (a WAG on my part), stared at the night sky and said…
(3) When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place— (4) what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? (5) Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.
Psalm 8: 3-5
Did you catch that? You and me – just a little lower than God. Crowned with glory and honor. Trillions of galaxies. One you. One me. Just a little lower than God. We have been created by God who endowed us with remarkable capabilities, all to be used to serve one another and glorify Him.
When you look up at the sun and the stars, it’s easy to feel small. 2 trillion galaxies. But just one you, intricately made, fully known, completely loved, and perfectly equipped by the One who made the stars.
And suddenly, we’re not so small.
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