The Artist

                                                                                                             

Aloha Dearest Family,

              I’ve always loved museums. I could spend many hours looking at all the exhibits on display and admiring the artist’s work. Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. The property that is now the Lightner Museum was at one time a very popular hotel called the Hotel Alcazar built by railroad magnate Henry Flaglar. This hotel was built in 1887 and was very popular during the American Guilded Age for guests traveling to Florida by railway. Now the hotel is a museum and home to many, many incredible collections from the 1870s-1920s.

                During my visit I was amazed at the intricate works in bronze, ceramic, stone, ivory, crystal and glass (just to name a few) and pieces collected from just about every country in the world. I gazed in wonder at the most astounding pieces I have ever seen. I even remember asking myself, “How does someone even begin to design this piece, let alone make it?” I came to the conclusion that there have always been artists in every time period, working in every genre of art. As I admired these wonderful pieces, I also recognized that this was man’s best effort. This started me thinking about the greatest designer and craftsman of all time – God Almighty.

        Because God wanted a family, He created man to enjoy continual fellowship with him. But first He had to create the perfect habitation for man to live.              

                 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. “ (Genesis 1:1)

 The first thing we learn is that GOD created the heaven and the earth. HE is the designer, planner and architect. He created a place that would have to sustain man for eons of time. This first creation would have to last forever and would never die out.

                 “He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” (Psalm 104:5)

                 “And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has established forever.” (Psalm 78:69)

 In God’s wisdom, He created the earth and placed it in the perfect place in the universe. If you look at a diagram of our solar system, you might think that the placement of the earth is random and that the earth looks like an insignificant tiny blue speck in the vast array of other stars and planets. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we will see in this study, God chose the perfect place for us to live and enjoy.     

        “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;” (Proverbs 3:19)

 By His wisdom, God created a world that would be self-perpetuating. Meaning once He set the earth’s systems in order, these systems would keep the earth continually running, without any further alteration. Remember that God is perfect and so His designs and the functions within the designs will be perfect and unstoppable. Through His wisdom in setting the earth in order, we will see God as the master-craftsman of the earth. Here are just a few examples of why the earth is such a precious place.

  -The presence and abundance of liquid water supports all carbon-based life forms on earth. The earth is abundant in the one thing that living things need most-water.

 -The earth is kept warm by an insulating atmosphere.

 -The earth is the perfect distance from the sun. Just a few degrees closer or further from the sun, and all life on earth could not be sustained.

 -The earth has the right chemical ingredients for life. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are abundant on the earth.

 -The rotation of the earth and moon maintains our seasons. The moon ensures that the earth stays on its axis and maintains its gravity.

  -The earth is protected from harmful radiation from the sun by an electro-magnetic field. The ozone layer in our stratosphere absorbs from 97-99 percent of the sun’s ultraviolet light which would damage life on earth. The reporting that there is a “hole in the ozone layer” is strictly man’s perception, not God’s.

 These systems, just to name a few, interact with each other in order for men, plants and animals to survive. With these systems in place, the earth can be self-generating forever.

         The most astonishing aspect of God’s earth is that He created it so that we could OBSERVE our universe. Our atmosphere is transparent so as to allow us to see God’s handiwork from the earth into the heavens. If the earth was placed in any other place in our solar system, this would not be possible. We can gaze up at other stars and planets and stand in awe of what God has created for us. For the stars themselves tell of God’s glory and unfathomable wisdom.

                 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1 and 2)

                                              Love Always, Ray

                 The ancient astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (the first scientist to postulate that the earth and planets revolved around the sun) once observed:

               “The mechanism of the universe wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly Creator…the system the best and most orderly artist of all, framed for our benefit.”