"Let There Be Light"

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

This is a picture of the entire sky taken of microwave light at a very specific frequency. It is an absolutely amazing picture. It is a picture of the universe at an extremely young age, at less than 0.003% of its present age. The universe is estimated to be 13,740,000,000 years old, and this recorded light comes from the universe when it is 379,000 years old. Why 379,000 years old? This is the time the universe cooled in its expansion so that light was not trapped anymore in the hot plasma and gas. Prior to that the universe was a hot fog of protons and electrons, among other particles, which was opaque to light. At the fog cooled, the electrons attached to the protons, forming hydrogen atoms which allowed the light to be emitted from the fog. This happened at the same period of time all over the universe and we see first emission of light from that universe that was emitted over 13 billion years ago. Because the actual time/space has expanded since that time, we see the bright white light "red-shifted" down to the microwave range. What was thousands of degrees 13 billion years ago, through this red shift, is cooled down to just a few degrees above absolute zero, the theoretical coldest temperature possible. (Technically absolute zero is not possible, but it is possible to get very close to it.)

What's so exciting about this? It is evidence the universe had a beginning. It fits with the Christian world view that God created the universe.

Fuzzball

Geek work for today: Fuzzball -- Einstein's General Relativity predicted black holes, areas in space where huge things (like a huge dying star) collapses on itself, forming a region where nothing can escape, not even light. The problem is that the stuff squeezes within this region to a zero sized point. String Theory, on the other hand, predicts a fuzzball of strings in the black hole where nothing can escape.

Eight Is Enough (for this week)

Born this week, my second grandchild. Pictured is the moment my first grandchild saw his new brother. This makes our household eight. It's lots of fun for us (the grandparents). For my daughter and son-in-law, I'm sure its great joy but it is also an exercise in sleep deprivation. I remember those days.

While I Was Away

I have not been posting to this blog lately. Much of it is due to the fullness of life, enjoying being a grandfather, but also the pressing work of a greatly underestimated software project.

Also while I was away from blogging I was working in my role as an elder in helping a family in crisis. I was bewildered when I initially stepped in, but soon I started to see, only by the grace of God, the broad outlines of the problem and issues. At times I have been flummoxed at how evil can be so insidious, beguiling, and deep -- not from inside that family, but coming from outside of it.

By God's grace I have seen things turn around. There is significant healing but there is much undone. Evil explosions like this are never just contained to a small area. I grieve over those I could not help, where I don't see healing coming yet.

I have given considerable time, attention, and prayer to this -- and gladly so and will continue to do so very gladly. I am honored that these dear people would let me into their lives and honored that God lets me serve in this way.