When we consider all that humans can do today, we're amazed with ourselves. For instance, yesterday's news reported a breakthrough which will enable silicon-based chips to produce laser beams, enabling higher speed in data communications than has ever been possible before. I'm impressed. But then I look outside my window at a tree no human can make from scratch, and up at a universe we cannot begin to measure, and I'm less impressed with us.
A geologist was bragging to God that he could have made a better planet than the Lord created. The Lord agreed that he and the man would each make a new world and see who could do the job better. The geologist bent over and scooped up a handful of dirt. The Lord responded, "Get your own dirt."
The philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz asserted in 1710 that this is the best of all possible worlds, that some evil is necessary to produce good qualities like courage and faith. As hard as life on this planet can be, it's harder than it sounds to design a better one. And harder still to implement your plan.
Engineers are learning something about the limits of human ability in Louisiana these days. Today's New York Times reports on a proposal to divert the Mississippi River where it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. At present, valuable sediments carried by the river are dumped into the ocean and lost. If the river were diverted south of New Orleans, these sediments could help rebuild the Louisiana coastline. At least that's the theory. Whether it can be done successfully or not is still much in debate. And that's just a few miles of one river.
When we consider all that humans can do today, we're amazed with ourselves. For instance, yesterday's news reported a breakthrough which will enable silicon-based chips to produce laser beams, enabling higher speed in data communications than has ever been possible before. I'm impressed. But then I look outside my window at a tree no human can make from scratch, and up at a universe we cannot begin to measure, and I'm less impressed with us.
I read last week about a single star named Betelgeuse, located about 880 quadrillion miles from us. Its diameter is larger than Earth's orbit. It shines 60,000 times brighter than our Sun. And that's just a very small part of the universe God has made.
I'd like Warren Buffett to manage my investments, and Roger Federer to teach me better tennis. I'd jump at the chance to discuss the universe with Stephen Hawking. But I can do even better. The One who made the Mississippi River and the ten million billion billion stars in our known universe is waiting to hear my next prayer. He's powerful enough to help me with my greatest problem, and personal enough to want to.
I cannot comprehend his majesty, but I can receive his mercy. So can you, right now.
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