Consider the Stars
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.”
Photo by Klemen Vrankar
During the hot days of my childhood summers in Hayden Lake, Idaho, my siblings and I often deserted our uncomfortably warm bedrooms to sleep outside for the night. We tumbled on makeshift beds of foam mattresses and sleeping bags until the night grew dark and cool. Sleeping outdoors became a favorite pastime, especially during the month of August, when meteor showers flooded the sky. To our delight, dad would join us on the deck and entertain us for a while. We’d roll onto our backs and gaze far into the distance; the stars seemed to go on forever, becoming smaller and smaller as they disappeared into space. He’d help us find the Milky Way and the Big Dipper, sing silly songs, and teach us the poem to wish upon a falling star.
“Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have this wish I wish tonight.”
My sisters and I were serious star gazers because whoever saw a shooting star first, would get their wish. Fortunately, there were many falling stars. We would fall asleep wondering: How did the stars get there, what are they, and how do they stay in place?
The majesty of the universe still amazes me. It’s difficult to fathom that there is no known edge to its limits. Brilliant scientists have used complex mathematical equations to calculate the boundaries of the universe and find its center, yet they’re unable to determine either one. This is mind-boggling to me.
One community, in jest, claimed to be the center of the universe. In 2004, the mayor of the small mining town of Wallace, Idaho made this proclamation:
“I, Ron Garitone, Mayor of Wallace, Idaho, and all of its subjects, and being of sound body and mind, do hereby solemnly declare and proclaim Wallace to be the Center of the Universe.””
The manhole cover marking the location is at the intersection of Bank and 6th Street. The community leaders cited the theory of probabilism, asserting if it can’t be disproved, it must be true! Antics like this entertain me, so of course, I found the spot this summer while in the area and snapped some pictures.
Maybe some would apply this same theory of probabilism toward God: if you can’t disprove Him, He must be real. I don’t think anyone can disprove God’s existence. However, there is a better way to know He’s real. Every living thing tells of a magnificent Creator—from the smallest cell of our complex bodies to our planet Earth to the infinite galaxies. Our world’s order, complexity, and beauty are staggering to consider. Its very existence speaks without words.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
The natural world resounds with God’s glory. It’s as though he left His signature on everything we see.
As a child stargazer, I didn’t know much about God. Yet how wonderful to ponder that way back then, in my little hometown, He was revealing himself to me… with every twinkling star in the blackest night sky.
Photo by Greg Rakozy
“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
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