I'm just a little bit in love with you.

Pretty calm day. Just finished playing a good game of PIT with Tia, Abby, and Sarah Baskin. I was sitting outside today trying to warm up in the sun when some kids came by. They didn’t ask for sweets, but I really wanted to play with my camera and take pictures of them. So I came inside, got my camera, and grabbed some chocolate chips. It’s kind of just known that you don’t give sweets out to kids around Tenwek, because then, whenever they see a mzungu, all they say is “sweets, sweets, sweets, sweets.” But, as most of you know, chocolate is not a sweet to me. A hard little candy is a sweet or starbursts or skittles are sweets. Chocolate is CHOCOLATE. John W came walking by like, “oh, you kids are getting some sweets!” And I froze making the connection for the first time! I said, “no, it’s chocolate.” “Sweets,” John said. Ah!! Five more kids ruined.

I’m reading a book by John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad! I’ve been mulling over some things from it. Whatever you believe about the world and God, it’s worth reading and it’s not too heavy!

Albert Einstein’s Indictment

Charles Misner, a scientific specialist in general relativity theory, expressed Albert Einstein’s skepticism over the church with words that should waken us to the shallowness of our experience with God in worship.

“The design of the universe. is very magnificent and shouldn’t be taken for granted.” In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preacher said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that religions he’d run across did not have proper respect for the author of the universe.

The charge of blasphemy is loaded. The point is to pack a wallop behind the charge that in our worship services God simply doesn’t come through for who he is. He is unwittingly belittled. For those who are stunned by the indescribable magnitude of what God has made, not to mention the infinite greatness of the One who made it, the steady diet on Sunday morning of practical “how to’s” and psychological soothing and relational therapy and tactical planning seem dramatically out of touch with Reality-the God of overwhelming greatness.

It is possible to be distracted from God in trying to serve God. Martha-like, we neglect the one thing needful, and soon begin to present God as busy and fretful. A.W. Tozer warned us about this: “We commonly represent God as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God.”

Scientists know that light travels at the speed of 5.87 trillion miles in a year. They also know that the galaxy of which our solar system is a part is about 100,000 light-years in diameter-about five hundred eighty seven thousand trillion miles. It is one of about a million galaxies in the optical range of our most powerful telescopes. In our galaxy there are about 100 billion stars. The sun is one of them, a modest star burning at about 6,000 degrees Centigrade on the surface, and traveling in an orbit at 155 miles per second, which means it will take about 200 million years to complete a revolution around the galaxy.

Scientists know these things and are awed by them. And they say “if there is a personal God, as the Christians say, who spoke this universe into being, then there is a certain respect and reverence and wonder and dread that would have to come through when we talk about him and when we worship him.”

We who believe the Bible know this even better than the scientists because we have heard something even more amazing:

“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these (stars)? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power no one is missing. (Isaiah 40:25-26)

Every one of the billions of stars in the universe is there by God’s specific appointment. He knows their number. And, most astonishing of all, he knows them by name. They do his bidding as his personal agents. When they feel the weight of this grandeur in the heavens, we have only touched the hem of his garment. “Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways! And how small a whisper do we hear of him” (Job 26:14).

That is why we cry “Be exalted, O God. Above the heavens!” (Psalm 57:5). God is the absolute reality that everyone in the universe must come to terms with. Everything depends utterly on his will. All other realities compare to him like a raindrop compares to the ocean, or like an anthill compares to Mt. Everest. To ignore him or belittle him is unintelligible and suicidal folly. How shall one ever be the emissary of this great God who has not trembled before him with joyful wonder?

Instead of taking John’s word for it, I checked up on some quotes from Albert himself. The above sounds about right.

A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty – it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. (Albert Einstein)

A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. (Albert Einstein, 1954)

The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms – this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
( Albert Einstein – The Merging of Spirit and Science)

Interesting stuff to think about. The hills surrounding Tenwek are beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. So every morning when I wake up on my way out of the guest house, I have to stop in awe of the magnificent creator.

Short messages to my family, because NYU mail always takes forever to load, and they are probably the only ones reading this: Sophia, feel better my love, i hope your fever goes down! Christian, I just imed you online but I guess you aren’t by your computer. Nick, come on more! James and Louis, I loved the pictures from graduation- I’m really proud and excited for you, and I’m trying not to think about you going away! Mom, keep thinking about that e-mail question I asked. Dad, send me an update- the city still moving without me? Also, what are our plans for 4th of July AFTER 8pm? And, I think it will just be me, Sara and Jillian living in the South Bronx next year. LOVE YOU ALL!

My friends- Write me e-mails, I love hearing from you!

and some story people because I’m not tired…

There was a single blue line of crayon drawn across every wall in the house. What does it mean? I said. A pirate needs the sight of the sea, he said & then he pulled his eye patch down & turned and sailed away. – Brian Andreas

And this one is dedicated to all the wonderful people I’ve met at Tenwek. I didn’t know they knew the link, but since they do, I’ll start doing shout outs here. (Because I never do remember to tell them how awesome they are in person.)

Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero. – Brian Andreas