What is man that You are mindful of him?

The Voyager I, a probe sent by NASA to study our solar system, passed beyond the orbit of Pluto in 1990. Still in range of contacting Earth, NASA scientists had the Voyager I look back toward our planet and take a picture, which has since been received. This picture is referred to as "The Pale Blue Dot," which is fitting once you have seen the image (seen above). Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer, in response to this image, wrote:

Look at the earth in this picture—a pale, blue dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. And on that dot everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. Every act of human heroism or betrayal, the sum total of human joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, moral teacher and corrupt politician, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. What is the glory and triumph of the greatest conquerors and builders of empires? They were the momentary masters of a fraction of a blue dot. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in teh vast and enveloping cosmic dark.

Carl Sagan, "A Pale Blue Dot: The Earth from the Frontiers of
the Solar System," Parade, 9 September 1990, 20–21.

O Lord, what is man that You
regard him,
or the son of man that You
think of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing
shadow.

Psalm 144:3–4

When I look at Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful
of him,
and the son of man that you care
for him?

Psalm 8:3–4

Chafer on Evolution

The act of bringing man into being is an achievement of stupendous proportions. To make man to be the result of an accidental evolutionary process springing from some supposed primordial germ—which germ itself cannot be accounted for apart from a Creator—and all this as a pure imaginative fancy without so much as a shadow of substance on which it may rest for proof, bears all the marks of mental desperation and bankruptcy of ideas. Yet these undemonstrable notions are passed over upon the world under the patronage of education and science. To the unregenerate mind, to which God is wholly lacking in reality, the problem of origin is not solved by the statement that God created man. How desperately unreal that revelation is to all such may be measured by the farcical dogma which men substitute in its place. It would be revealing to such teachers if, having aroused all the humility and sincerity that is latent in their beings, they would inquire why they reject God as Creator.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, p.130

A Taste of Fatherhood

Earlier this evening Deonna and I took the dogs to the Dog Park near White Rock Lake. Normally we take them down there on Saturday mornings, but with Hurricane Ike scheduled to hit land any minute now, we figured it might be a little rainy around here this weekend. 

(Just skip to the last paragraph if you want to get to the real story...)

At the White Rock Dog Park, I have made two unique observations. First, rarely does a visit to the park not involve my wife and I hearing vulgar profanities. These words range anywhere for the common "S"'s to the disturbing "f"'s. Secondly, Deonna and I have noticed how pets—in this case, primarily dogs—have peculiar ways of resembling their owner(s). This is noticed in possible weight problems, excessive hairiness or drooling, and even below-normal IQ. 

Now, with this relation between owner and pet, there comes a fascinating parallel to disciplinary practices. Our two dogs, Wycliffe and Naphtali, are very submissive to most of the other dogs at the park; Deonna has assured me that this is because of the way that we frequently (and properly) discipline them. A great many dogs go around biting and pushing other dogs to the ground... quite frankly, this pisses me off. If one of my dogs was truly bothering another dog, I would have the decency to spank them, or pull them away and make sure it didn't happen repeatedly. But you always get some git out there who sees their dog biting or oppressing another, and there they are, "hey Spoofy, you need to settle down okay?"

First, the dogs don't understand English, only vocal tone, meaning that if a dog is needing discipline, the owner's voice should have the effect to startle and scare the dog when in the "disciplinary" tone. When my little girl Naphtali needs a good spanking, say she has grabbed some food off the table or chewed up my shoe, she has been know to pee herself simply in response to my "disciplinary" tone of voice. Secondly, 'Ol Spoofy tends to really understand a good slap to the haunch—at least he would if ever received one. 

Well, despite my venting from above, I do have some heartfelt words to share about dogs. Tonight at the park, there were these two dogs that continued to claw at, and nip and bite at my dog, Wycliffe. Wycliffe is a boxer, and though he's a pretty good sized dog, he is a little timid, and as mentioned above, he can be overly submissive to other dogs. But these dogs were really messing with him, and I am sure they were causing him some pain by biting at his neck. There was a moment, completely unexpected, when God really struck my heart. I felt like a dad. I felt like how I want to feel when I am one day a dad. I sat down in a chair to take a rest, and immediately (I don't know how he got to me so fast) Wycliffe ran to me and jumped up onto my lap. He got as close to my body as he could... because he knew that I would protect him from these other jerk dogs. It was really amazing. His little black eyes looked up to mine, and I put my arms around him to make him feel safe. Just yesterday I spanking him hard... I disciplined him and punished him because he had done something that he wasn't supposed to do. But then at the dog park, he was clinging to me because I was his protection, and he knew that I loved him... even though I have disciplined him and his sister so many times. And the whole situation made me think about the Lord, our wonderful Father in Heaven—how He is always there to rebuke and correct us when we screw up, but He is a strong tower of security and love. That is what I want to be one day for my children—a father that they rightly fear, but want nothing other than to be in my arms when they are in trouble, or pain, or sadness. 

"May I hear about your loyal love

in the morning,

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

because I long for you.

Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!

I run to you for protection.

Teach me to do what pleases you,

for you are my God.

May your kind presence

lead me into level land."

Psalm 143:8–10

God of the Storm

The image below is a statue of Jesus, standing in his boat, calming the storm. This particular statue is in Galveston, TX, which at the present has been evacuated as Hurricane Ike bears down on the Texas coast. The forecasters have exclaimed that anyone who remains in their Galveston homes this weekend faces "certain death."

I found this image to be quite interesting... even beautiful. Though the statue and much of the coast of Texas could be smashed up a bit in the coming week—God is still God. He is the God of the storm; He is unmoved.

"Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah."

Psalm 46:10–11

"And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking 

into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was 

in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and 

said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 

"Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great 

calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you 

still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said 

to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and 

the sea obey him?"

Mark 4:37–41

"Peace I leave with you—my peace I give to you;

I do not give it to you as the world does.

Do not let your hearts be distressed or 

lacking in courage."

John 14:27

Acing the Test—Dr. Abe Kuruvilla

Chart for 1 John 1

What will YOU do with the TRUTH?

(click on the picture to see the larger image)