You Think You Know...

I was driving over a bridge on the way in to work this morning, and was nearly blinded when I reached the point that my line of sight was over the tops of the trees, giving me a direct view of the sun. I've seen the sun plenty of times in my lifetime, but today it seemed especially huge and bright orange. Quickly affixing my sunglasses to my face, I thought, "Man, that is one giant ball of glowing gases". Then I realized that I don't really know what the sun is, nor does anyone else -- nobody's ever been there. Scientists have simply reasoned that they know all about the sun's composition based on what they can piece together. I recall that there was a time when some cultures believed that the sun crossed the sky every day on the back of a big turtle. They thought they were right, too.

As I drove along, it occurred to me that, on the other end of the scale, nobody really knows what's on the inside of an atom, either. Sure, we can draw a picture of a nucleus and concentric orbitals with little electrons on them, but we're just taking our best shot at describing something we can't really get to. So I just sat there feeling small in my little Corolla, amazed at the power of that big thing sitting out there, 93,000,000 miles away (we think).

Later today, I had a few extra minutes on my lunch break and popped into a book store. I ended up on the "Science" aisle, though I thought I was on the "Religion" aisle until I looked up and read the sign. This "Science" aisle had an disproportionate number of books on evolution, many of which had something about "spiritual" in their titles. It was kind of creepy, actually. I happened to pick one up. Its subtitle was something like "Proof that nature arose from unintelligent design". My first thought was, "Hmmm...so the universe was designed by a moron?" Then I just had to laugh that someone would devote his life to writing a thick volume intended to deny what he can plainly see.

NFL Coach Jim Mora is famous for a post-game press conference in which he told the members of the press, "You really don't know. You think you know, but you don't know. And you never will." I'd say that applies to me and all the rest of the human beings that will ever inhabit this planet, as much as we'd like to think we're really smart. This advice from Proverbs 3:5 is priceless: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding". I can't think of a better strategy.

Has It Really Been TWO YEARS?

I was just scanning a few blogs, and stumbled across my own. My goodness -- has it really been two years since I set this thing up? I remember the night that I did that. My then 13-year-old son casually glanced over my shoulder and huffed "You're writing a blog?" He said it as if I was committing the equivalent of heading out the front door in a pair of Speedos to greet his friends. I wasn't sure just what it was about his dad writing a blog that was so uncool. I have since learned, however, that to a 13-year-old, very little his dad does is acceptable, much less, cool.

Well, he's 15 now, and although I may not have gotten any cooler over the last two years, I think I've gotten a little wiser. A couple of my friends passed away during that time, and I'm learning more and more that passion for one's vocation is good, but it has to be kept in check. In short, I've come to embrace two truths: "Every Day is a Gift" and "It's Just a Job".