Think about the universe. What started it all? Think about the planets. They are all orbiting around a star, our sun. Who started those orbits? Who started the planets on their elliptical paths around the sun? Who put the moon in motion around the Earth? Now think about an atom - a nucleus consisting of protons and neutrons, electrons orbiting around the nucleus - like a miniature solar system in design. Think about all the atoms in all the universe. The number is unfathomable, beyond human comprehension. Think about all of the electrons orbiting all of the nuclei of all of those atoms. The are all spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning endlessly, night and day, week and year, decade and millennium, never ceasing, always in motion. Now consider this: what started all those electrons spinning around all those nuclei? Who put all of those electrons into infinite, unending motion? Who imparted energy to each and every electron in each and every atom in the entire universe? These questions struck me late the other night, and it blew me away. I thought about atoms, and it just struck me that electrons had to be put into motion somehow. They had to start their spinning at some point in the distant past. Since that time, all atoms everywhere are in constant, never-ending motion. That energy came from somewhere.

Where did it come from? Obviously it came from somewhere or something. We know that something doesn't come from nothing. So where did all of the material and energy in the universe come from? Maybe it's always been here, forever and ever. But how can that be? How can all of these things - atoms, electrons, stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies, the electromagnetic spectrum - have always existed? Logically, it had to all start somewhere; it all had to come from something or someone else. Some believe that all that exists started as a small lump of matter about the size of an apple. One day it exploded, and all that is came from that. But then, where did this "apple" come from? Even that would have to come from somewhere! The obvious answer is that there is a source for the universe, a creator. Someone started it all. That someone is God, the Almighty, the Creator of the universe and everything in it. God took nothing, and created something. He created protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, gluons, muons, the stars, the planets, nebulae, galaxies, galactic clusters, and He put them all in unending, constant motion.

Think about how much energy it must take to move the universe in just one hour, or even in one minute. Consider that the universe is at least several thousands of years old (some say much older, but that is a discussion for another time). Think of God, the Creator of the universe. Wow. How much energy He had to impart to EVERTHING to make it all move for thousands of years, and perhaps more! It boggles the mind! How could God have put all of everything into perpetual motion? It defies answers. Truly, He is all powerful and all knowing. But wait, there's more.

The Creator of the universe, the One who put all the atoms and stars into place and then put them in motion, the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, He loves you and me. Out of the entire universe, He loves us! He loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross in our place. Imagine it! The Creator of all that is chose us, out of all of the entire universe, to love and send His Son for. Wow. All I can say is, "Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to die in my place, to take my sins on Himself, to provide forgiveness of sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead, and preparing a place in Heaven for me." "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2 Cor. 9:15 -NASB)

How can we not be in awe when we really stop to consider the universe, the Creator, and all that is? How can we not say, "Thank you," when we realize that the God who created the universe stooped down to us to provide salvation to all who will accept it? Think about it.