Greetings,

I can't believe what I saw in the newspaper last night, when I was ready to trash a stack without peeking but peeking won out. SO THANKFUL I couldn't help myself. In Section A on the editorial page of the St. Petersburg Times, Friday, September 11, 2009, was THE MOST STUNNING picture of outer space I have EVER seen. And that's saying some because you and I have seen MANY unbelievable photos of various planets, stars, bits of solar systems. This is a brand new photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It shows 100,000 of the approximately 10,000,000 stars from the cluster Omega Centauri. The picture is dotted with tiny, shiny light specks in white and blue and shows scattered, larger, glowing lights in blue and red. The Times editorial said the "varying colors indicate their (the stars) life cycles." It looks like an artist took a black canvas and stippled sparkles all over it for a few days. It is utterly magnificent. I'm asking you, Is your life dull or a tad boring? Do you need to ratchet things up a notch? Are you seeking some sort of thrill? Then be your own best friend and track down this picture -- maybe through NASA? You won't regret it.

Space has always captivated me. Some experts try to relate the magnitude of it by making comparisons, like just one spectacularly enormous solar system, many light years across, would be a pin head in a football stadium. Don't quote me on that, but you get the idea. Then they tell you how to measure how far away the solar sytems, billions of them, are in light years. My mind cannot measure it. I cannot grasp, cannot go that deep; I am fitted to this earth, barely able to register in the simplest of terms our fantastic Milky Way. I thank the Lord for the gift of this photograph, because it steps in where words fail. In these perilous times, it's so great to have the technology that impresses upon us, in an unprecedented way, the majesty of God, the Creator of everything through Jesus Christ. In an age where many forget God, a photo like this takes our breath away, draws our attention to Who we need to focus upon. It's a comfort to be reminded that He changes not, and we, His handiwork, must bow before Him in worship. Oh, how glorious and awesome is our God. I praise His name forever.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
Psalm 19:1-6

KEM