Coalescing Debris and Falling in Love

I want to tell you about the moon.

And I don’t want this to be a defense of my faith or a theological musing. I just want to let you in on something that incites worship in my weird, nerdy little heart. Without further ado, let me tell you a story…

In the Beginning...

Approximately four and a half billion years ago (just ignore for the moment the theological implications of that) our infant, heavily atmosphered earth was spinning away. The surface of the deep was dark; our solar system, a place of chaos. Little earth was minding its own business when very suddenly it was violently slammed with a protoplanet approximately the size of Mars (about 1/9 the size of Earth). In the course of about thirty minutes, Earth bravely consumed some of its mass as it began to pull away. But in a fateful sequence of events, the protoplanet swung back in for another hit. Earth, scalding and angry, finally swallowed most of the protoplanet’s core, leaving little but a ring of hot debris orbiting our merged, molten World. That ring of hot debris later coalesced to form our moon.

A Superhero Made of Cheese

I think it’s probably safe to bet that you might not find the formation of the moon quite as riveting as I do. But you might be surprised to discover just how greatly our cheesy neighbor affects the quality of our lives:

1. The protoplanet added enough mass and radioisotopic material to the earth’s core to allow for plate tectonics.
2. The added mass allows the earth to retain just enough water vapor for life
3. The impact was violent enough to dispel the heavy, life-suffocating, Sun-blocking atmosphere of early earth into space (Let there be light!).
4. The largeness of the moon stabilizes the earth’s axis so that it doesn’t seesaw, causing climate change that would make the earth an unpleasant place to live.

Dr. Jennifer Heldmann, a NASA scientist, called the formation of our moon a “very fortuitous event”. But the specificity and rarity of the Giant Impact Event required to allow for advanced life is enough that I might safely call it a miracle.

Little Messy Moons

See, when I first read about the creation of our moon and the implications it has for life, I was floored. It opened my eyes to the faithfulness, protection, and power of God for which I didn't previously have a picture. I never knew such great fear of God. How big, how tremendous, how clever must this Yahweh be to so specifically plan for our little human comforts four and a half billion years in advance? And compared to a trillion other things, the moon is so insignificant.

Romans 1:20 says, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." And we are without excuse. How could we, after seeing how God has fashioned our Universe doubt that he has good plans for our lives? When all we see is the giant collision, the huge chaotic mess, our first thought is that God doesn't know what He's doing. But without the mess, we couldn't survive. We wouldn't have a home.

How many times has God created little beautiful moons out of my messes when I wasn't paying attention?


Overwhelming, Mystical, Mysterious Feels

I find it really difficult to sum up the way God captures my heart when I get to see the way he’s put our home together… Was little insignificant, wretched Ellie on his heart or his mind at any moment while he was “nesting”? You see, this is the type of thing that makes me feel worshipful--sometimes it’s hard for me to feel affectionate toward God during church or worship services. But I forget that worship isn’t about some overwhelming, mystical, mysterious feels. Worship is so simply the natural awe-response of meditating on the true, very real qualities of God. And this is the stuff that without fail makes me hallow God! “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all...” (Psalm 104:24).

A few weeks ago, our Cru movement walked through the Lord’s prayer, and Bacho, in summing up what it means to say to God, “Hallowed be your name” describes it this way:

“In the final analysis, it is the yearning of a soul that longs for the world to stand in awe of God. That this God is so magnificent, so powerful, so incredible that the only response that humanity could give this God is simply and purely to stand in awe of Him.”

It might be a little strange, a little nerdy, but I yearn for the world to see the work of God in the things we don’t typically take the time to see. Like the moon.

How does God capture your affections?