God's Fireworks

On Saturday night there's gonna be fireworks. On a cosmic scale. God's putting on the display, so you pretty much know it's gonna rock. No, I'm not trying to say that a little voice told me that the End is coming. The heavens are not going to implode. You don't have to run to Costco and stock up on supplies for the apocalypse. Well, that is unless you live on the Oregon Coast where we live and you are preparing for the gale force storm that's supposed to hit us this weekend. But that's another story. This fireworks show has been happening for over a hundred years and, to scientists' complete befuddlement, seems to be getting better every year. I'm talking about the Geminid Meteor Shower, an annual cosmological event that has astronomers completely stumped.

From about 2 AM on Sunday the 14th until dawn, provided the sky is clear where you live, you will be able to look up and see about one 'shooting star' every 30 seconds, courtesy of a celestial object that has scientists scrambling for explanations. Now, I've seen a lot of shooting stars in my time. When I was in the Army serving as a helicopter pilot, one of my jobs was to train other pilots in the use of Night Vision Goggles. With the goggles, we could see stars that scientists didn't even know existed until the invention of the radio telescope. I was fortunate enough to witness dozens of shooting stars that I probably never would have even seen with my naked eye. And every single time, they made my heart jump. Just like the beautiful plume of an expensive firework that makes everyone go "OOOOhhhh, AAAhhhhh!", or like the drop at the very top of the roller-coaster hill that takes your breath away, seeing a meteoroid (or 'shooting star') streak across the sky at blinding speed always leaves you with a sense of awe.

The cool thing about the Geminid meteor shower is that scientists are seriously confused about its source. You see, most meteor showers have been documented for hundreds of years. And they are almost always a product of cometary debris. But when astronomers began looking for the comet that gave birth to the Geminid shower, they didn't find one! In 1983, some NASA scientists found an object that matched the orbit of the Geminid meteor stream, but it wasn't a comet - it was an asteroid. Now, instead of boring you with a bunch of nerd talk to explain why this is so unique, I'll just tell you to trust me that there are a lot of good scientific reasons why scientists didn't think a meteor shower could be created by an asteroid. Heck, you probably don't even care what the difference is between a comet and an asteroid! To make a long story short, the more scientists study the phenomenon that is the Geminid meteor shower, the more questions they come up with and the more confused they are. The physics behind what makes a shooting star are really quite complex. Geminid doesn't fit into any model or blueprint that we understand. It is, and may always be, a mystery.

What we are left with is a breathtaking display of natural beauty in the night sky. Because of the wide path of the Geminid stream, people all over the world will get to enjoy the fireworks show. While this is cool on a lot of levels, the part that appeals to me the most is the mystery of it all. Just about the time we think that we have a certain chapter of physical science pretty well figured out, BAM! Along comes something that completely stumps us. We're not sure how the meteoroids were created. We're not certain about their source. They are more dense and just different than normal shooting stars. They don't seem to serve any special purpose except to light up the night sky and inspire a sense of wonder. And therein, my friends, lies an amazing truth.

The Universe is full of surprises. We like to be able to put things into a tidy compartment where we can examine them and learn all of their secrets. The Universe will always resist our efforts. It is not something that wrapped-up into a neat equation and explained. The more we learn about it, the more questions we raise. All of our discoveries, all of our study, all of our unanswered questions are pointing to one awesome Truth. The Universe was created. There is an underlying purpose to everything we can see, hear, feel and study. While we understand some of the reasons behind some of what we see around us, the entire purpose is known only to the Creator. Maybe someday He'll share these secrets with us (and I think He will), but until then, we have to trust that He knows what He is doing.

The Geminid meteor shower can't really be explained. But I love that! It's one of the things that makes me trust in my Creator even more. We always want to know the purpose for everything. Well, maybe there is no purpose to this phenomenon. Maybe our Creator simply put the Geminid meteor shower in the heavens so that we would look up and see it's beauty and think of Him. He probably loves the fact that we can't explain it. It is an annual reminder that He is God and we aren't. To me, it's like His signature written across the sky. It's as if he was saying, "Look what I made - just because I can!".

Friends, the great thing is that the God who is powerful enough to move heavenly objects and light up our entire sky is more than capable of meeting our personal needs. And He wants to! He formed the Universe, but he cares about each individual human. His strength can literally move the heavens, but he delights rather in touching our lives and filling us with His joy. He keeps all of creation in perfect balance, surely you and I can trust him with our hearts.


Thanks again to universetoday.com and Tammy Plotner for the informative article that inspired this blog.