Day 12: The Day I Challenged the Sun

Once, I was driving to Texas for Thanksgiving, and as I was nearing the border of Oklahoma and Texas, I looked up to see this:

I was fairly certain that it was the most beautiful skyline I had ever seen in my life. My good friend, Lonna, and I made a habit out of going to the highest point on campus once every week or so for a while, just to watch the sunset behind the school because it was so natural and beautiful. So of course, I pulled over and took a picture of it so I could remember it forever and I felt a sudden overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. I felt small.

Fast forward to Wednesday, January 26,2010. I was sitting in chapel, as I do every Wednesday at 10 am, and as chapel began, so did a video of a man named Louie Giglio, speaking about something that I find incredibly interesting, science. He wasn't talking about the kind of science I am learning, but about astronomy which is still incredibly interesting to my nerdy side. He spoke about how, if the Earth were a golf ball, there are stars so big that you could put 2.7 quadrillion golf ball sized Earths into it. There are stars so big that if you fill them with golf balls, you could cover the entire state of Texas 20 inches deep with the amount of golf balls that would fit inside this star. There are STARS bigger than the PLANET EARTH. How insignificant do you feel right now?

I will be the first to say that that is an intimidating thing to learn. So twinkle, twinkle little star no longer applies. Twinkle, twinkle star so big that the planet I inhabit can fit in it 2.7 quadrillion times, which in seconds is 30,800,000 years ago, in case you were wondering just how big a number 2.7 quadrillion is. I know most of you reading this were in chapel Wednesday or were in chapel last year when they played the same video, but every time I see it, hear it, think about it, I am blown away by the intricacy of this universe.

Have you ever seen the milky way? We are pretty much in the middle of it so if you go out on a clear night (most likely not in the city since there is so much light pollution) and you look up, you can see the milky way. It is one of the most comforting, comfortable experiences I have ever had. I know that seems like a strange word choice but when I think about the universe that was created for me, it reminds me of how insignificant our WORLD is. It humbles me, that's for sure. So all of this to say, the sky was really pretty that night.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson