Above the earth there is the atmosphere. This can be seen in the picture as a line circling just above the earth. It could be called the mother and father of life. It protects us from all sorts of outside harm, from Ultra-violet rays to meteoroids. It enables life to flourish and gives us air to breathe. The air provides, among so many other things, an environment in which we can hear sound and communicate with each other. It permits the hydrologic cycle which describes how water molecules make their way from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere and back again, in some cases to below the surface. This gigantic system, powered by energy from the Sun, is a continuous exchange of moisture between the oceans, the atmosphere, and the land. Without it we are dead. It is found in such a Goldilocks like, just right for everything condition only on earth. The search for another planet with this fine tuned for life condition is ongoing and so far fruitless. Our planet is either a stroke of luck beyond calculation, or an act of calculation by an intelligence and power beyond all knowledge; unless you think outside the godless box and open the Bible. The opening sentences in the book of Genesis describe exactly that kind of Creator.
The video below is worth watching for various reasons. The narrator takes a trip into the atmosphere in my favourite aircraft: the British made Lightning jet fighter. Secondly he speaks of a man who did a free-fall parachute descent from the stratosphere, reaching speeds of over 600 mph. Ben Kittinger’s comment on reaching the safety of the ground, a journey of fifteen minutes was: “…from space to the Garden of Eden.” Whether that comment was rehearsed or not makes no difference. It is true, we live and breathe in a Garden of Eden. Because beyond the earth’s atmosphere there is a seemingly endless eternity of life extinguishing darkness. Earth sits as the only known, and the most unlikely beneficiary of a life giving and sustaining environment. It does so in a universe that would suck all life out of us without the protection of a blanket of gases 300 miles thick.
To sit and contemplate such a miracle might be considered as thinking outside the box. You might also consider that outside this box is our guardian, our Father, Our Creator and Our God. But even that is only partly true, because this God came to earth, entered our planetary home, became like us: a baby, a child, an adult, a sacrifice, and at the end of his life on earth a Saviour. Then he returned to his heavenly home having invited us to share it with him; a new and unending and never to be spoilt paradise in comparison to which the Garden of Eden was just a pale imitation.
If you want to know more and see some amazing pictures from space then the video below provides both in abundance.
