July 19, 2023

Written by Jim Cantelon on July 19, 2023. Posted in Blog.

A year ago, the James Webb telescope was launched into space. It’s been sending spectacular high-definition pics that have amazed both astronomers and lay people alike. The most stunning so far was just released: the “Rho Ophiuchi” cloud complex, a star forming region in space 400 light years from earth. The entire image is about half a light year across or 4.7 trillion(!) kilometres. It more than boggles the mind. It’s incomprehensible, truly an example of “I don’t believe what I’m seeing”.

Psalm 8 comes to mind: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” We are eclipsed by the immeasurable magnitude of God’s creation. We live as though we’re centre of the universe, but Shakespeare may have been more than prescient when he wrote that “we strut and fret our hour upon the stage and then are heard no more”. It is staggering to think that the Creator cares, let alone loves us.

And yet He does. So much so that “he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life” ( John 3:16). But it’s also true that in order to accept this total grace of God “we walk by faith and not by sight”.

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