This weekend my family and I went to the Creation Science Museum in Kentucky. I think we picked the wrong weekend, for that place was packed! Thankfully, I am not claustrophobic…just a bit impatient. And large crowds always make me feel like I’m moving too slow, so I speed read and skip things always hoping that I’m not being a bother to those waiting to read the same things. So while there were very interesting things to learn and see inside the museum, my favorite parts were the beautiful gardens (complete with rope extension bridge that was great fun to wobble over) and the planetarium.
You’ve probably been in a planetarium. You sit in comfortable, reclining chairs; the lights go out; and you’re sorely tempted to fall asleep during one of the long tirades on “billions and billions of years ago…”. Of course, there were no billions on years in a creation museum. Just the usual awe of God’s amazing universe and your speck of a part in it.
The story of Horton Hears a Who is funny, and cute, and laughable as a huge elephant tries to save the lives of a group of people living on a speck no one else can see or hear. But then you see the vastness of God’s created universe, and suddenly you feel like one of the people living on a speck that no one can see or hear. For we grow up learning that the sun is the largest, most powerful body in our solar system – and it is. And yet the starts we see in the sky are hundreds of times larger and more powerful than our sun. And the earth itself cannot even be seen from these stars. And these stars are not the end of the universe. There are stars and galaxies we cannot see even with a telescope. It just goes on and on and on. And above all that, the Bible tells us, is God’s throne.
“What is man that thou art mindful of him?” King David asked in the Psalms, and he didn’t even have a telescope. He couldn’t go to a planetarium and behold the vastness of the universe. He saws the greatness of the heavens with his naked eye and knew he was but a speck…a speck the Creator of the universe sees, hears, and protects. How amazing is that?
Walking out of a planetarium always makes my head spin…and not because I just woke up from a quick nap. It hurts to try to comprehend the vastness of God’s creation. You try to fathom it, but you can’t. You try to measure the distances by what you know, but you don’t know anything that grand. And you wonder that God even cares about a speck like you. But He does. And the universe is. And at the end of the day, all you can do is sit down, shake your head, and exclaim, “O God, how great Thou art!”
You’ve probably been in a planetarium. You sit in comfortable, reclining chairs; the lights go out; and you’re sorely tempted to fall asleep during one of the long tirades on “billions and billions of years ago…”. Of course, there were no billions on years in a creation museum. Just the usual awe of God’s amazing universe and your speck of a part in it.
The story of Horton Hears a Who is funny, and cute, and laughable as a huge elephant tries to save the lives of a group of people living on a speck no one else can see or hear. But then you see the vastness of God’s created universe, and suddenly you feel like one of the people living on a speck that no one can see or hear. For we grow up learning that the sun is the largest, most powerful body in our solar system – and it is. And yet the starts we see in the sky are hundreds of times larger and more powerful than our sun. And the earth itself cannot even be seen from these stars. And these stars are not the end of the universe. There are stars and galaxies we cannot see even with a telescope. It just goes on and on and on. And above all that, the Bible tells us, is God’s throne.
“What is man that thou art mindful of him?” King David asked in the Psalms, and he didn’t even have a telescope. He couldn’t go to a planetarium and behold the vastness of the universe. He saws the greatness of the heavens with his naked eye and knew he was but a speck…a speck the Creator of the universe sees, hears, and protects. How amazing is that?
Walking out of a planetarium always makes my head spin…and not because I just woke up from a quick nap. It hurts to try to comprehend the vastness of God’s creation. You try to fathom it, but you can’t. You try to measure the distances by what you know, but you don’t know anything that grand. And you wonder that God even cares about a speck like you. But He does. And the universe is. And at the end of the day, all you can do is sit down, shake your head, and exclaim, “O God, how great Thou art!”
The Garden of Eden.
A sign in an empty display. They just couldn't resist...
The dinosaur I wanted to take home as a pet. Isn't he cute?
The suspension bridge in the gardens - way fun!
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