"Mommy - how big is the sky?"

When we find things in the heavens which are truly amazing, it is not the time to doubt the existence of God. It is God saying, 'You like that? I have more to show you. Just build a bigger telescope.' Amen to that!

"Mommy (or Daddy) - how big is the sky?" Now that is a question I dare say that most of us asked one of our parents at some time. And/or, been asked by one of our kids or grand kids. It is a good question for sure. And I for one, know the definite answer to this most vexing question. The answer is - it depends.

It depends on which year it was asked. We have come a long way since Copernicus. Even though he advanced science a whole bunch by situating the Earth where it should be, he had no clue how big the universe really was. Maybe a thousand or so stars - or at bit more or less. But anyhow, that was back in the 1400's he was born.

Today, because of the power and sophistication of our telescopes, we think there are somewhere between 100 and 200 billion galaxies in our universe. Why that number? That is based on what the Hubble Telescope is seeing. Many scientists think that is a low ball number. Some say as our telescopes evolve, the number could be maybe a trillion, maybe even higher. Here is the kicker - some giant galaxies contain over a trillion stars. And if you really want to walk on the wilder side, more and more scientists think we might be part of a multi-verse, rather than a universe.

Some might wonder with all those stars, many harboring planets, why do we think we are alone in the universe? We might not be. Or - we might be after all. We simply don't know. A few years ago, we went to see a concert at a large church in the area. During a break in the music, an evangelist gave a talk about the wonders of all things great and small. He used this picture in the graphic I used for this article. It is from a nearby galaxy which just happens to be perfectly perpendicular to Earth. To learn more this galaxy, our scientists peered as deeply as they could into the middle of that galaxy. This is the picture they came up with.

Those in the faith, believe that the Earth, and all which surrounds it, was created for a purpose. God created what he created for a reason. We will probably never know the whole story this side of Heaven. One thing the evangelist did say at the concert we went to, was very profound. When we find things in the heavens which are truly stellar or amazing, it is not the time to doubt the existence of God.

When that happens, it is God saying, "Do you like that? I have more to show you. Just build bigger telescopes." Amen to that!