A Long Obedience In The Same Direction

I'm putting together a message that I'll teach at my home church next week on the size of the Universe! Today my daughter and I did a project I found online that brings home how vast our little Solar System is. I found it fascinating reading, but even more fascinating doing! You can read about it here. My mind is boggling over the vastness of space and how this little speck of dust in the universe was the home for a few years of the God of the universe in human flesh. And when he walked those dusty streets he said things like "God has every hair on your head numbered." Wow! How the Creator can even care about such an insignificant corner of the universe is beyond my apprehension. But to think that He actually KNOWS and is CONCERNED about me once again makes me remember how small I am and how BIG God is. And that's a good thing. PS (Added October 18) You can listen to the message I was referring to above HERE . Search for "Your God is Too Small"

My wife started reading Willam Young's runaway bestseller "The Shack" a month or so ago, and I read it after her (with apologies to people waiting for it back at the library!) It seems "everyone" Ann knew was reading the book so we both were interested to find out what all the excitement was about. I started the book with a good deal of skepticism since I don't tend to enjoy most popular Christian fiction (too predictable and poor writing). But I found "The Shack" to be an interesting read and thought provoking as well. It seems to flirt with the far edges of orthodoxy a few times, but I think overall it is a helpful book for understanding some confusing aspects of Christianity, and for giving some vivid pictures of hard to understand doctrines. All you have to do is get used to the image of God the Father being called "Papa"and appearing as a black woman. (Ann said she kept imagining "Papa" as the head angel from "Touc