May 2025

"You are the God who works wonders. Great is the Lord,
and highly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable."
~ Psalm 77.14; 145.3

Good morning,

Genesis chapter one oozes with staggering and stunning awe! God said, "'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens' … the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also." (Gen 1.14-18)

"He made the stars also???" That line is one of the greatest understatements in all scripture – spoken as if it's no big deal.

A quick gaze into a star-filled sky can be breathtaking, and trying to identify more than a few is always a challenge. The most familiar star, of course, is the Sun – an enormous ball of hydrogen and helium so huge that it represents 99.86% of our solar system's entire mass. If the Sun was hollow, it could swallow 1.3 million Earths.

The Sun's core burns at 27 million degrees F. However, as the heat rises to the surface, it cools to a balmy 10,000 degrees. But, once the heat escapes the Sun's surface, the temperatures rise dramatically – and science doesn't know why.

However, as massive as our Sun is, it's still considered a bit-player in the cosmos. In fact, the star Betelgeuse is 800 times larger than the Sun, and the star Scuti is twice as big as Betelgeuse. And. with billions of stars populating billions of galaxies, the words "He made the stars also" seem woefully inadequate. They need to be SHOUTED!

When grouped with the big boys out there, our Sun, and its orbiting planets, might seem pedestrian by comparison. But our solar system still brings a gasping awe when seen up close. For instance, counting outward from the Sun …

• Planet #1 – Mercury, with its egg-shaped orbit, is almost entirely made of iron. And that's a good thing because the planet's atmosphere is so thin it allows asteroids and comets to treat it like a demolition project. Craters are everywhere – one crater is half the size of Europe.


• Planet #2 – Venus prides herself in being different, always moving at her own pace. It takes Venus 243 Earth days to make one day's rotation. And whereas the other planets rotate counter-clockwise, not Venus! She rotates clockwise.


• Planet #3 – Earth. There's no place like home.


• Planet #4 – Mars boasts the largest volcano in the solar system, six times larger than Mauna Loa in Hawaii. And her largest canyon is five times more massive than the Grand Canyon. However, before booking your travel plans, Mars is windy, clocking year-round speeds up to 60mph and covering the entire planet in dust. (Cough!)


• Planet #5 – Jupiter is huge, 1300 times larger than Earth. Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, has an underground salty ocean containing more water than on planet Earth.


• Planet #6 – Saturn, known mostly for its spectacular colored rings and its whopping 274 moons, is also our least dense planet – meaning it could float if you put it into a giant bathtub.


• Planet #7 – Uranus – the planet with the embarrassing name. (Actually, when pronounced correctly, it's "You're a Nuss.") Anyway, Uranus doesn't spin like a normal planet; it just lies on its side and rolls around the sun. (I think it's a name thing!)


• Planet #8 – Neptune's largest moon, Triton, is a true non-conformist. It's the only moon in the solar system traveling in the opposite direction of its planet's rotation.

That's just a fraction of God's genius in creating the Sun, Moon … and "the stars also." A God without limitations can do anything. And if He can do all that with His universe, just imagine what our star-making God can do with you and your church.

The stories of His greatness are unending. God alone has unlimited power and unrivaled authority. Within that authority was His decision to make you His spokesman.

And that, just like the stars, is breathtaking!

Blessings,