The Coolest Advent Calendar EVER (For space-nerds, that is!)

Someone posted a link to the Hubble Space Telescope Advent on the Apologia e-group. This is amazing. I do not know who this guy is who is doing it. I think it pretty obvious by the things that he says he is not a Christian. We need to pray for him. He does call this an Advent calendar, but he refers to winter holiday season instead of Christmas. He also talks about explosions that happened 55 million years ago. (Definitely safe to say he is not a young-earth creationist) We need to pray for this guy, that his heart will be opened by God.

It is amazing to be able to see God's glorious handiwork in photos. These images are not things we can see with naked eyes, binoculars, or even really good earth telescopes. There is so much incredible beauty and wonder out there. We do not know it is there, unless someone tells us about it. Even then we do not get that great of an idea. We get a better idea when we see a picture. Really though, let's face it, even a picture only shows us a small amount. Who knows what we are missing.

God is similar, in a way. We can go through life, not knowing what we are missing. If no one ever tells that we are depraved and sinful, needing a Savior, how are we supposed to know??? This brings to mind something from our youth lesson last night. Proverbs 16:2- All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives.
Most people do not wake up in the morning say, "Hm.... how evil can I be today???" They do things that they think are okay. They do not know unless they are told that they are bad. Even then, if they are only told how bad they are, is that good? They need to be shown how much God was willing to sacrifice to set them free. I think that one of my biggest points of conviction was while watching a special on crucifixion on the Discovery Channel. Instead of a "You are sinful, but God loves you THIS(imagine arms opening wide) much!" I was faced with the thought of how much horror a real crucifixion was. God loved me THIS (beatings, humiliation, scourging oh, not to mention to "get" to do all that he had to leave Heaven, come into a woman's womb (can you imagine leaving your current home for that?, live a life like a human)

Speaking of living like a human, can you imagine something: I personally would not want to live in ancient Israel. Call me a princess. but there are certain things like indoor plumbing that I can not imagine being without. He did not live a life of luxury, even by ancient standards. He lived a hard life, yet still never sinned, still never said "I have had enough!! I am going home!! You can all go to hell!!" No, as the people were nailing Him to the cross and scorning Him, He still said "Father forgive them, they know not what they do". I think that the song Amazing Love sums it up very well: Amazing love, how can it be, the You my King would die for me?