Find your innner woman 13: the Astronomer

It finally cleared up yesterday so we could go out with Dr. Lisle (our professor this week) and check out the night sky. As the sun dragged itself seemingly imperceptibly past the mountains, the sky deepened, the stars multiplied and crystallized as our night vision increased. I have to say, I was unbelievably excited to be studying the stars and such. My family will remember that phase of life when I was obsessed with stars and planets and constellations - begging for a telescope. Well, I never really lost that passion for this amazing part of God's creation. I mean seriously, the universe is out there, don't you want to know what it's like!?

We started out just looking at some stars which were rather unimpressive through the telescope, as it wasn't super crazy strong. Dr. Lisle pointed out a bunch of constellations, the north star, and the celestial equator. We watched Orion slowly set beneath the mountains and new constellations arise in the east. It was really magical, seeing the universe  revolve around us. We looked at some star clusters and even a spiral galaxy! People would randomly gasp and point out shooting stars. (Kaitlyn saw her very first one and actually squealed which was adorable. Poor Cannon missed every sighting.) Oh we also saw the international space station at around 9:30 and then at about 11 we saw it again! That's right - it orbits the earth at 17 000mph meaning it goes all the way around in 90 minutes!!!

My favourite part of the night was our last object - SATURN! It was the only planet out at the time and I could not have been more happy. I have been wanting to see Saturn through a telescope for a VERY long time. All night, I was anxiously waiting, keeping my eye on the glinting planet to the east. As it slowly rose, it reached its peak and we aimed the telescope in its direction. I didn't really know what to expect as I waited in line for my turn but what I saw was beyond what I could have imagined. It truly was beautiful: pale yellowish in colour, crisp rings surrounding, Titan and Rhea hovering nearby. It looked like a textbook image - so perfect. It was hard to realize the reality of what I was seeing and it was truly amazing. I can only imagine what it would have been like for those who first saw it through a telescope, having no idea what they were going to see. God is so amazing! The detail and care He puts into everything is unbelievable. When I look at the night sky, I see not only His unfathomable vastness and amazing power but also His creativity and His intelligence. Everything just works up there the way it is supposed to. I could just watch it all night long.

What a great God we have!

For Just a Moment

For just a moment, I thought I saw the change arriving

I thought things would be different

For just a moment, I saw the light dawning

All was new and alive and lovely

For just a moment, the air sparkled with anticipation

The melody of birdsong was heard on the breeze

For just a moment, there was warmth

Bright smiles and laughter from all

For just a moment, I thought...Spring had arrived

Campus, April 22

But not yet – for the snow has fallen again

Not yet – for the cold has set in once more

Not yet – for the frozen ground resists new growth

Not yet – for Winter has yet to surrender his last grasping tentacles,

by sheer stubbornness holding the world in submission

Campus, April 25

All in good time, Spring flowers will persevere through the snow

All in good time, Spring sunshine will rebuke the biting wind

All in good time, Spring will have victory

For now, it is still Winter

For now, I must wait

For now, it's okay...for now...

He said, she said, they said...whatever

The age of the earth - a hotly debated subject, perhaps so much so that the main issue has been overlooked and forgotten. Did you know that many Christians believe the earth is millions of years old?It is no wonder since the church has neglected to speak about this issue, leaving indoctrination open to the secular world of educators. Even many Christian institutions teach millions of years and even evolution. They do not understand (or perhaps they do) that this directly contradicts Scripture. What do you believe? Have you ever thought about the issue? Do you realize the significance of your view of the origin of the planet?

The secular world of uniformitarian thinkers has so influenced Christians and the church today that most don't even think about the conflicts of Scripture. But as Answers in Genesis and Ken Ham so strongly emphasize, the Bible is clear as to the age of the earth and creation not evolution was the process by which everything came into being. A literal reading of Genesis describes creation in six, 24-hour days, not separated or stretched out by millions of years. Further, the account of the Biblical flood is clearly global and destroyed the planet, reforming into what we see today. By reinterpreting these accounts to mean something different, we are undermining the authority, inerrancy and infallibility of God's word. Doing this to the first book of the inspired work of God destroys the rest of His words as well including those of the hope of salvation.

Without a literal Adam, created perfect, and the original sin, bringing with it the effects of death, suffering and degradation of the universe, the redemptive story of the rest of Scripture doesn't make sense. By incorporating millions of years of death and decay into the Bible, we are redefining God and rejecting His very words. What are you believing? You can't ignore this issue. You must take a stand. Will you believe the fallible ideas of man simply because the majority says it is "science"? Or will you believe the perfect word of the God who created it all, was there from before time and will one day provide all the answers? Don't try to make excuses. There are only two starting points: God's word or man's word. Which will you choose?

Seeing more clearly

I fear I may have forgotten how to write in my long absence...so do forgive me if this post comes out rather awkwardly. As to the last two weeks I spent on the road on our geology trip, I hesitate to really into the details as it could take awhile. It is hard summing up something that impacted me in so many ways and to describe all the amazing things I saw. I will try to be brief, for I can't just ignore the whole trip - there is too much importance in it.

We traveled from Jackson through Colorado, Utah and into Arizona to the Grand Canyon and then back up stopping at various places along the way (Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon Dam, and Zion National Park to name a few). We were studying the geology of the Grand Staircase and fossil evidences given to us all over the region with the bias of Biblical glasses. Indeed, I am not ashamed to admit we all had out Biblical glasses securely fixed to our eyes as we viewed various landscapes. As Christians, it would be foolish to look at the world around us without the influence of the Bible. (As I have been learning in this week's class with Ken Ham, we can't throw away our "starting point" - God's word, or we are left with only the starting point of the secular world - millions of years and evolution - EVERYONE has a bias). What we saw through these glasses amazed us and strengthened our faith and convictions and encouraged us to stand ever more securely on the authority of the Bible.

We saw landscapes like the Grand Canyon which were carved by water - large amounts of water! We saw layers and layers of sediments at places like Colorado National Monument and Canyonlands that could NOT have been put down slowly (no sign of erosion, spread over such huge regions etc). We saw things like desert varnish on canyon walls, caused by manganese in the sandstone - manganese that cannot be accounted for by the trace elements in the atmosphere but more probably came from volcanism on the sea floor during the flood and mixed with the mud which turned into the stone we see today. We saw "cave art" depicting mammoths and dinosaurs proving that mankind actually saw and lived with these creatures. I could go on and on.

Mammoth drawing

Colorado National Monument

Throughout the trip, our professor continually impressed upon us the importance to STAND FIRM on the Bible. No matter what "science" comes up with today to explain things or discredit Christianity, we can have assurance in God's word. As Ken Ham has pointed out in his class - God is the only one that knows everything, so when we debate about origins or the flood of Noah's day or dinosaurs etc, by standing firm on the Bible, even if we can't answer all the questions, we have assurance that God is the ultimate authority on it all anyways so we don't need to back down. God can answer and will answer it all in time and those who have rejected Him, WILL know the truth and submit.

I will put some more pictures on the photos page if you are interested in seeing some more.