Wrap your mind around this.

Yesterday I was on my way to work, listening to NPR, like every morning. There was a story about this college student who was doing astronomy research with a prof and caught something quite amazing...a .005 second radio flash located about 1 billion light years away from earth.

It doesn't sound all that amazing, does it? But think about it. They measured something as short in time as a 50th of a blink of an eye that is located in a place that we couldn't get to in a million life times! Wow!

Let me get a little theological, for just a minute. When people who believe in God (I'm one of those) pray to the Lord of the universe and the Lord of all creation, God is present 1 billion light years away from all human experience at the same time that God is fully present in daily life here. Now that's a leap of faith, but one that I am willing to put stock in. Who wants a little God that we can place in our pocket? I'd rather have the God who is creative enough to be here and there and everywhere and has the power to care about my life as much as God cares about other parts of the universe.

Let me take it one step further...if God sent Jesus to redeem creation (read Revelation 20-22), doesn't that mean that the scope of God's redeeming action is far beyond the lives of Christians, even far beyond the live of humanity? What might be the most faithful role the Christians play in the world? Do Christians sell God short when the only concern is the eternal residence of people's lives? Aren't there more positive and productive acts that Christians can do to make the fullness of God's care and realm known to the world that often needs a gracious and redeeming word for their lives today? I'd think so. As a Christian, the call to follow Jesus leads me to believe that there is action to take in order to make the world that God has given us a more gracious and God-shaped place to live, here and now.

Do you have ideas of how to live as a follower of Jesus that makes a difference for the world in which we live? I'd love to hear them. Let's do this together.