When I look at the Stars....

So, have you heard Switchfoot's song "Stars," or better yet, have you seen the music video? It's the coolest music video I have seen in my life. Anyway, the words to that song have come up in my mind several times in the past weeks. It's about seeing God's creation and gaining a better understanding of who you are and who God is. Tonight when I saw the northern lights dancing, I felt the same way again.

I love looking at the stars. Lying down by the one you love and just looking at the night sky, enjoying each others' company and admiring God's creation is one of the most romantic things I can think of. But even without ever having that experience, I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at the stars. I remember last summer lying down on the dock at bluewater. The lake was so calm that you could see the reflection of every star in the water. And this year, I remember looking at the northern lights and then staying up around the campfire for 3 more hours, seeing shooting stars and realizing how much the milky way had rotated around. I remember lying in the north field at Lake Bronson with all the sr. high girls seeing the northern lights dancing across the entire sky in bright greens. Last week in the pitch black our youth group went out there and the clouds were just rolled away as if God decided to give us a few minutes to view his masterpiece. (mike pointed out "Ursilla major".) I remember when tyler would take us "the long way" home from youth group to get far enough from the light to see the stars, and countless times when the family has driven out to see northern lights.

Like I said, I love looking at the stars. It's so beautiful and it puts everything back into perspective. God's still there, He's bigger than you could possibly imagine, and he loves you and cares about every aspect of your life more than anyone on earth ever could. He's powerful and in control. I think it's so cool that God can show us these things in his creation every day.

"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 display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." (Psalm 19)

When I look at all this, I remember why God deserves our worship, praise and adoration. He created so much beauty that we humans will never even see it all. Who knows how big this universe is? Has anyone seen to the edges of it? There's so much out there that even the most powerful telescope can't see. And all of it is so beautiful. And on this earth there is unspeakable beauty, and still more yet to be seen. Everything is so complex and so diverse. And with all our technology we still cannot see the smallest of atoms. Why did God bother to create all these things? Why make more than a couple dozen stars to light our way? Why make so many colors? Why create so much beauty that we will never see it all? Why create beauty in the first place when so few people appreciate it and even fewer praise him for it? The only reason is that he loves us deeply. He could have made this life extremely dull for us. But he created beauty and amazing wonders that we will never finish studying and mysteries that we will never quite figure out. He created it for our enjoyment, knowing full well that we would forget him and turn our backs on him again and again. Praise God that, though we are so small and seemingly insignificant, he sets us apart from all creationg and calls us his masterpiece. The King of this vast universe has adopted us as his sons and daughters.

Sometimes it amazes me that any person could look at the creation around us and believe there is no God, or that they could see what He's created for our enjoyment and assume he has no relevance in their lives or simply doesn't care or is out of control. Look at the stars and know that God made them all for you.