Location - Location - Location

You may have heard it said that the three rules of real estate are: 1. Location 2. Location 3. Location. The same rules apply to the human race’s place in the universe.
1. Location of the human race within such a vast universe.
2. Location of the human race in time within such an old universe.
3. Location within our solar system.
4. Location of our solar system within our Milky Way galaxy.
5. Location of our galaxy within its galaxy cluster.

Location within a vast universe

The universe as now measured appears absurdly too large to serve merely as humanity’s home. Skeptics insist that a Creator wouldn’t make unnecessary matter and space or waste creative effort.
The sheer enormity of the universe is enough to make anyone feel inconsequential. This feeling raises questions: Does life really have any ultimate value, meaning or purpose? If God is responsible for our existence, why would the universe be so large?
Anyone who hasn’t had the privilege of studying astrophysics may not realize that the universe MUST be as massive as it is or human life would not be possible – for at least two reasons: it must be the right mass and it must have the right expansion rate.
The density of protons and neutrons in the universe relates to the cosmic mass, or mass density. That density determines how much hydrogen, the lightest of the elements, fuses into heavier elements during the first few minutes of cosmic existence. And the amount of heavier elements determines how much additional heavy-element production occurs later in the nuclear furnaces of stars.
If the density of protons and neutrons were slightly lower (than enough to convert about 1 percent of the universe’s mass into stars, then nuclear fusion would proceed much less efficiently. As a result, the cosmos would never be capable of generating elements heavier than helium – elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium, which are essential for any kind of physical life. On the other hand, if the density of protons and neutrons were slightly higher, nuclear fusion would be too productive. All the hydrogen in the universe would rapidly fuse into elements as heavy as or heavier than iron. Again the life-essential elements would not exist.

The second reason the universe must be hugely massive concerns its expansion rate. According to the law of gravity, the closer various bits and pieces of mass are to one another in the universe, the more effectively they will slow down the universe’s expansion. Conversely, the farther apart those bits and pieces are, the less “braking effect” gravity has on cosmic expansion.
The delicacy of that ratio is very critical. In certain early epochs in cosmic history, its mass density must have been as finely tuned as one part in 10 to the sixtieth power to allow for the possible existence of physical life at any time or place within the entirety of the universe.

Location in time within such as old universe

The latest measurements indicate the universe has been around for 13.73 billion years. From as astronomical view, these billions of years represent the minimum time necessary to prepare a home for humanity. And, as it turns out, the minimum time required is essentially the same as the maximum time for at least four reasons:
1. Essential heavy elements need to build up.
2. Long-lived radioactive isotopes need to build up.
3. Dangerous events must subside.
4. Fossil fuels need time to form.

The heavy elements needed for life are manufactured exclusively in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and these elements built up gradually. The universe didn’t contain the variety and concentrations of heavy elements necessary to make planets and advanced life possible until after three generations of stars formed, burned, and scattered their ashes into the interstellar medium.

Human civilization with high-tech societies demands a great variety and abundance of heavy elements. Their creation took at least 9 billion years of manufacture in stellar furnaces. That’s how long it would have taken at a minimum to provide for a heavy-metal-rich planet such as Earth. And slightly more than 4.5 billion years ago, just as that essential abundance first became available, Earth’s solar system came together.

For a second reason, as the universe ages and the abundance of heavy elements increases, one class of elements eventually begins to decrease. As the universe gets older, star formation gradually tapers off and the rate of star explosions – especially the major ones called supernovae – also slows down. Supernovae produce all the universe’s long lasting radioactive material such as uranium 235.

These radioactive elements seem obscure, even dangerous, but they play a critical role in making Earth suitable for human habitation. The radiation they release provides nearly all the energy that drives and sustains plate tectonics and helps sustain Earth’s magnetic field.

Earth’s continents and oceans exist due to plate tectonics. Given the importance of uranium and thorium in serving the needs of advanced life, the best possible time for an advanced-life habitable planet to form would be when these elements reach their peak abundances.

Recent research reveals that the timing of that peak occurred when the universe was two-thirds of its present age – about 4.5 billion years ago. That age matches the timing of the Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Third, dangerous events must subside. The same supernovae so crucial for building up the heavy elements and radiometric isotopes essential for advanced life also shower their environs with deadly radiation. Consequently, advance life could not be safely introduced until the rate of supernova eruptions in the Milky Way Galaxy had subsided considerably.

Dense molecular clouds are another galactic hazard for advanced life. Fortunately, as the Milky Way Galaxy aged, ongoing star formation eventually consumed enough of the gas and dust in such clouds that they ceased to pose a major threat to advanced life.

Gamma-ray burst events, both in our galaxy and in nearby galaxies, pose an even deadlier risk to advanced life than supernovae or dense molecular clouds.

Though a planet suitable for life’s survival could be assembled within 9.2 billion years after the creation event, nearly another 3.5 billion years were needed for all the above dangerous events to subside enough for advance life and civilization to survive and thrive.

Fourth, we must consider fossil fuels needed for advanced life. The decayed bodies of creatures buried during or soon after the Cambrian explosion (about 543 million years ago) made the largest contribution to Earth’s petroleum reserves. While the transformation of these buried remains into usable petroleum takes time, given too much time bacteria in the crust will turn the petroleum into natural gas. Likewise, the formation of reservoir structures in Earth’s crust for the collection and storage of petroleum requires certain geological developments that take specific periods of time. However, with too much time, tectonic activity will cause cracks to form in the sealer rocks. Such cracks mean petroleum loss through leaks.

The optimal time for petroleum production perfectly matches the optimal time for reservoir structure formation and the storage of petroleum in those structures. So humans are living on Earth at the optimal moment for petroleum exploitation. The conditions for coal formation and storage are also exacting and equally optimal in their timing for the benefit of humans and civilization.

Then there are solar system reasons to account for the necessity of an additional 4.5 billion year delay after the Earth’s formation 9.2 billion years after the creation event before the arrival of advanced life on the scene.

1. The sun had to stabilize. Human arrival and survival on the terrestrial scene depended on the Sun’s having reached a particular level of brightness and stability. This level was not reached until the Sun was about 4.5 billion years old.

2. During the solar system’s youth, it was filled with an enormous abundance of asteroids, comets, rocks, and dust. This material once pelted the Earth with great frequency and intensity. These bombardment events made the planet inhospitable to advanced life for about 4.5 billion years.
Bombardments also yielded some positive benefits for advanced life. They provided fresh supplies of water to replace that lost to outer space. They also salted Earth’s surface with valuable mineral deposits. For a few billion years these deposits accrued for the maximum benefit of human civilization.

3. The Earth needed time for transformation. Advanced life on Earth needs a rotation rate very close to 24 hours per day. Tidal interaction with the Moon and Sun has steadily reduced Earth’s rotation rate from its initial two or three hours per day down to its current 24. However it has taken about 4.5 billion years of tidal interaction to accomplish this reduction.

In addition, advanced life needs lots of free oxygen in its planetary atmosphere. It took 4.5 billion years to raise the atmospheric oxygen level from less than 1 percent to its present 21 percent.

For the human species to achieve a high population and high-technology global civilization, continental landmasses had to cover a significant fraction of the Earth’s surface. Such coverage demanded the continual operation of plate tectonic activity over a very long time.

Just Right Age For Observing

At 13.7 billion years of age, the universe is just old enough – and just young enough – to facilitate its visual and technological exploration from Earth.
First, in a continuously expanding universe, the space surface of a young universe would be much smaller than when it is older. In a young universe the light of nearby stars and galaxies would have blinded observers from seeing the more distant objects. It took billions of years for cosmic expansion to push the bright lights of the universe far enough apart for optimal visibility.

Second, these lights were much brighter in the past than they are today. The intensity of the light emitted by the cosmos is strongly tied to the rate of star formation. This rate reached a peak when the universe was about 5 to 6 billion years old. Then it took additional billions of years beyond that peak for the lights of the universe to dim sufficiently so as not to impair astronomers’ viewing capacity.

Third, during Earth’s infancy, its atmosphere was opaque to light. In its youth, the planet’s atmosphere was translucent. Only when Earth reached what astronomers call “middle age” (over 4 billion years) did its atmosphere become transparent enough to enable its inhabitants to observe the most distant objects in the universe.

Fourth, up to a certain limit, the older the universe, the greater the distance at which astronomers can make observations, or the farther back in time they can see. The human era is theoretically the earliest possible epoch that allows astronomers to study the light from the origin of the universe. Right now, astronomers can directly view 99.99 percent of cosmic history and almost behold the instant of cosmic creation.

Location Within Our Solar System

The Earth orbits the Sun in a middle position among the planets. If closer, advanced life could not survive the heat, and if farther out, advanced life could not survive the cold.
The giant planets farther out from us shield us to a great extent from asteroid and comet bombardment.

Location of Our Solar System Within Our Galaxy

Not all locales within our galaxy would make desirable homestead for advanced life. For example, anywhere near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, lethal radiation emanates from a massive black hole as well as from a jam of supernova remnants and gigantic stars. These deadly conditions extend outward more than 20,000 light-years from the galactic core. Earth’s solar system orbits at a distance of 26,000 light-years.

Even at this distance, radiation remains a factor – unless the solar system stays protected within the plane of the spinning galaxy’s disk. Virtually all stars bounce up and down, above and below the galactic plane. But our solar system experiences very little up and down movement and thus remains protected behind that radiation shield.

Planetary systems farther out than 26,000 light-years from the galaxy’s core face a different problem. Heavy elements needed for advanced life’s existence and survival are sparse at such distances.

Only within a narrow ring about 26,000 light-years from the galactic core does advanced life stand a chance.

Location of Our Galaxy Within Its Galaxy Cluster

Another distinctive location is our galaxy location within its galaxy cluster. Nearly all other galaxies in the universe reside within dense clusters of galaxies, with giant or supergiant galaxies as neighbors. These giants intermittently blast their whole neighborhood with deadly radiation. Also, their gravity and the gravity of the thousands of smaller galaxies associated with them significantly distort the structures of the galaxies they contain.

But the Milky Way Galaxy finds itself in a tiny cluster of galaxies without any giants or supergiants nearby and where the galaxies are widely dispersed. A typical galaxy cluster contains more than 10,000 closely packed galaxies. The Milky Way’s cluster, called the “Local Group”, contains only about forty galaxies – two medium-sized (Andromeda and the Milky Way) and the rest small or dwarf.

In conclusion, one favorable time or location window’s alignment with even one other window might be considered an astounding coincidence. But the lineup of so many independent time and location windows with the brief human moment on the cosmic calendar speaks powerfully of PURPOSE.

This conclusion is one component of what the scientific community has labeled the “anthropic principle” – the observation that the universe appears to have been engineered for the specific benefit of the human species.

During the past several years of research, scientists have gathered a substantial body of evidence showing that the universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, the solar system and Earth are, or at least have been, an essentially perfect vehicle for humanity. Though each astronomical component manifests features that may initially seem strange or out of place, in the context of humanity’s needs, each characteristic is JUST RIGHT.

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One of God's Yo-Yos

[A sermon given by Lou Hodapp Jan. 10, 2010 at the Missouri Veterans Home.]

Thank you, veterans, for the privilege of being with you again. Isn’t it great to be out of the cold Arctic air outside?
Ask me: HOW COLD IS IT?
I’m glad you asked.
It’s so cold, that as I was walking up to the building, my shadow froze to the sidewalk!
It’s so cold, that if Santa was leaving now, he’d have to jump start his reindeer!
It’s so cold, when I put on my coat to take out the garbage, the garbage told me it didn’t want to go!
That’s enough crazyness.

When you see children playing nowadays, you may be surprised to notice something – the yo-yo is back in style. But not the yo-yo that we remember of old. Now they have fancy yo-yos which do all the old tricks and in addition make noises and flash sparks.

I remember in my childhood days at school that oriental men would come around to the schools and demonstrate yo-yos. I believe that they worked for the Duncan YoYo Co. After watching these men do their tricks, each kid just HAD to have a yo-yo!

But I also remember that kids called other kids “yo-yos” and I definitely remember that it wasn’t a term of endearment. In fact it was comparable to “having bats in your belfry” or “he snapped his twig” or “three bricks short of a load” or “a full bubble off plumb”. (All you carpenters will understand that one). Knowing these things in school, I had always tried desperately NOT to be a “yo-yo”.

When I think about it, I must admit that there is a Christian parallel to the yo-yo. The yo-yo really does describe the ups and downs of the Christian life.

A yo-yo sitting on a table is not much good for anything except maybe a paper-weight.

When you call out to God for a Savior and make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, He in effect takes control of the yo-yo string. Since I have given my life to the Lord, Jesus Christ, God owns me. Therefore I must be one of God’s yo-yos!

Now the world can put me in a pretty heavy mood sometimes – in fact, a lot of times. But I find that, inevitably, Christ in control gives me some fresh insights and I am uplifted beyond measure. I never stay in the “downs” long without bouncing right back up to the heights.

The action of the yo-yo also describes how I learn what God wants me to know about His lifestyle – first I am down and seemingly in the dark, and then up and on top of things. After a momentary stay at the top I am on my way down with another one of life’s lessons to learn.

Some might say that they’d rather not go through all this bouncing around. But bouncing is the nature of the yo-yo. You’re not functioning as a yo-yo unless you bounce. To me, being a yo-yo is preferable to being static in thought and not learning what Jesus has to offer within the Kingdom of God.

If the term “yo-yo” bothers you, think about the things a yo-yo can do. With a skilled handler there is a little move called “rock-the-baby”, and another called “walk the dog”. These are like stages in your life where you learn more of God’s exciting ways.

Another was called “round-the-mountain”. Yes, I am familiar with going around the mountain all right. To me, that expression pictures my taking one of God’s little side trips filled with lessons that will help me to get closer to where He wants me to be.

Then there is that thing which a skilled handler can do to make a yo-yo “sleep” – where the yo-yo just spins for a time with no up or down movement. It can seem like an awful long time down in the dark, but a skilled handler like Jesus will always bounce the yo-yo back up to the heights.

Some lessons to be learned can seem to be taking longer than we could ever want – just spinning away in the depths. But we trust (and that is the key, TRUST) that we will bounce up again.

This truth was brought out to me a while back when I delivered Meals-on-wheels to an older woman’s home. I had been delivering to her for quite a while and she always had a cheerful way about her and often said as I left, “Jesus is with you!” One day I felt the urge to speak longer with her. I asked her to share her Christian testimony with me. Her story included a special experience involving illness and pain which had taken place many years ago. She said that now, every day, she still experienced pain, “But hardly ever”, she said, “does anyone notice it.”
I was amazed to hear all this from her since I had never once noticed strain or tension, either in her voice or in her manner. Then she said, “Why shouldn’t we EXPECT Him to control our physical body when we are ill?”
And I thought, “That’s what trust is – expecting.”

When Christ controls our yo-yo string, you can expect to be snapped up out of the downs and climb that string back up to the heights. Why not expect Him to get us through worldly troubles? Why not expect Him to draw us up out of our sin? Why not expect to be transformed by every downer we live through?

The Bible says that Jesus learned obedience or trust by the things He suffered – His downers. Jesus had the Father controlling His yo-yo string, and we have Jesus controlling ours.

Years ago, my wife gave me a little wooden plaque with the Bible verse from Roman 8:28 which says, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are called according to His purpose.” That little plaque sits in my bathroom next to where I wash and shave. In the morning, I open my day and prepare my day thinking those words.

You know, yo-yos live by the moment just as we do. Back in the poetry phase of my life, I wrote this poem.

If we’re thoughtful just a moment,
In what all we say or do;
If we put a purpose in it
That is honest through and through,

We shall gladden life and give it
Grace to make it all sublime;
For, though life is long, we live it
Just a moment at a time.

Just this moment we are going
Toward the right or toward the wrong;
Just this moment we are sowing
Seeds of sorrow or of song.

Just this moment we are thinking
On the ways that lead to God;
Or in idle dreams are sinking
To the level of the clod.

Yesterday is gone; tomorrow
Never comes within our grasp;
Just this moment’s joy or sorrow
That is all our hands may clasp.

Just this moment – let us take it
As a pearl of precious price,
And with high endeavor make it
Fit to shine in paradise.

Yes, as God’s yo-yo, Christ is the Holder of my string. It’s not by my whim that I go up and down, but by His design.

I go DOWN – to experience, to see, to feel, and to accept faith.

I go UP – to share with others, to show that faith, and to be used by God.

Being a yo-yo takes on a whole new meaning. No more worrying about not always having that placid, straight-line disposition that I see some other Christians exhibiting. Life IS highs and lows. And the Christian life as a yo-yo uses those highs and lows as learning experiences in the lifestyle of God.

If I get a knot in my string, it will take a little longer to work on it and get it out – but it WILL come out!

Ultimately, if my string breaks, Jesus will be the one to pick me up and repair me. What more could a yo-yo ask for?

Probably many of you here today have seen your need for Jesus Christ and have made Him the Savior and Lord of your life. This is the most important decision that anyone can ever make.
But there are always some in every audience who have never really turned their life over to Christ.

Let’s say a prayer now expressing this need for Christ. For those praying this for the first time with meaning – wonderful! This is an awesome spiritual experience!

For those “old-timers in Christ”, it never hurts to renew our commitment.

Father – the ups and downs of life can be frustrating. For those without Christ they can seem hopeless.

But, Father, you have made provision for us to become your true children by recognizing our need for the salvation that Jesus gives us by His death on the Cross and resurrection to Life again.

Right now, right here, I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and, to the best of my ability, I want to make Him the Lord of my life – to teach me trust during the lows and to use me outward to others in the highs.

I come to you as I am, far from perfect, but looking forward to a gradual lifestyle change to the way you would have me, Father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

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The Seasons of God

My birthday comes around every December. And every year, on my birthday, there is a changing of seasons – from fall to winter. On my birthday every year, I can look out the window and see trees now bare of their greenery, Bermuda grass now losing all its bright green summer color, the last of any remaining flowers are withering.

Yes, the earth has its seasons. Plants go from active growth to dormant life and then to re-activity. Temperatures go from hot to cold and back to hot. Colors go from bright to dull and back to a new glow. Everywhere there is seasonal change. I have lived through 78 of these cycles. And I have observed through the years that Jesus Christ, our Lord, is a SEASONAL God.
He comes forward for a while in a Christian, and then He withdraws for a season. His dwelling place in a Christian never changes, His faithfulness never changes – but His seasons do!
There are seasons when the tree is green, there are seasons when it is dry, and seasons when, for the life of us, the thing looks dead! Likewise, the Christian life.

Now does this mean you are serving some capricious God who comes and goes whenever He feels like it? Or could it be that IT IS ONLY THROUGH SEASONS THAT TRUE GROWTH MAY COME?

In all my years, I have not found a Christian who has not had a run (and sometimes a long run) of what could be called “bad luck”. Invariably he begins to entertain the thought that either God has left him or that somebody lied to him about what God was like.

A person cannot be always “up”. Though he may try hard to be always up, he is certain to catch up on the down side. It is just the way of the seasons.

Paul said, “Does not nature teach us?” Fruit from a tree comes to us as a result of three of the four seasons. But that fourth winter season’s stress serves the purpose of internal preparation and strengthened structure so that the next blossoming in spring can be at its best.

The Christian needs rain and sunshine, hot and cold, wind and doldrums. Seasons of joy, seasons of sorrow, times when Christ is so real it seems any activity you undertake is a spiritual experience. Seasons of dryness, when things are so bleak you wonder what good can come out of it.

And are not these seasons from the hand of God? If so, what is His Goal for us? He is taking you to that place where you can be A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. Where seasons don’t faze you – no, not even the glorious ones.

You need seasons. You will even need to overcome the season of joy!. What? Yes. If you are addicted to joy, then that addiction will have to be broken. And if pessimism and sorrow and dryness are your favored addiction, then you’re going to have to be broken of that addiction too. You can shout and rejoice yourself hoarse in wet seasons and cry yourself hoarse in dry ones. But Christ can drive you forward through them all.

The day must come when every season is taken fairly much the same. In fact, the seasons are there to make us eventually SEASONLESS. When you can view the sound of abundance of rain and the hot or cold wind of a dry spell exactly the same, then you are nearing the land of maturity.

There are always a few flaws in each of us, flaws so well hidden we ourselves often don’t know we have them. (Usually our brothers and sisters know, though. Isn’t that fascinating? We can’t see our flaws. Others can. Three cheers for close-knot Christian family and church life.) Those flaws are carryovers from our birth and living separated from God. Those flaws constitute the major field upon which the battle for our transformation in Christ will be fought.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we realize that He can transform us. But do we really want help? Do we really want to be transformed or do we simply enjoy being a Christian and being a part of a people who have given their lives to the Lord? Or are we unconsciously enjoying the church surroundings, the singing, the fellowshipping – yet somehow building a fence around that hidden flaw, making sure that nothing really dear to that independent attitude is broken?

Again I say, getting rid of that fence and that flaw is the purpose of the seasons of God.

We walk a thin line when we talk about either the JOY of the Christian life (the summer season) or the CROSS of the Christian life (the winter season). Either can be overemphasized. The Christian believer who has left over from his unbelieving days positive ideas about the world will gravitate toward the positive thoughts, things of joy and exuberance. The more negative pre-conversion mind of the Christian will find happiness in the gloom of his considerations of the cross. Neither view is truly Christian. So both the optimist and the pessimist are in for a divine adjustment. God displaces all human independent disposition with a divine one.

Sometimes the human flaws and the divine lifestyle go in opposite directions, operating totally different from one another. This is God’s winter season. There are also times when your human perspective easily relates to that divine life. This is the summer season of God. At still other times your soul is neutral to that divine life. You are in the spring or fall equinox of God’s seasons.

We know that one day Satan entered into the chronicle of the life of Jesus Christ. The question of why he appeared has filled volumes, perhaps libraries. Even Jesus had some seasons of God with Satan. This we know: when that confrontation was over, the result which emerged was no less than salvation of all mankind.

Anytime you get the idea that God has allowed His enemy some season of your life, even for one split second, remember this: when the confrontation is over, the results will be transformation in you for the better. A little more of the bright summer season of His divinity will have taken its place.

The key to the Christian life is recognizing and accepting God’s seasons in your spiritual life. The number of my 78 earthly season cycles has been multiplied many times over when I consider my spiritual seasons of God. I have been “hot” for God; I have been “cold” for God. I have been a “river of living water” for God; and I have been a “dry and parched land” for God. But the many season cycles have produced a more mature (and still maturing!) tree of spiritual fruit.

Happy birthday to me!

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