Wading through life

There are times I’m tempted to think God isn’t that big. Or isn’t at all. So, this is a reminder to me and any of you who share in the battle.

In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, this, one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble’s cameras, is being released. It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth – and death – is taking place.

This image is a mosaic of the nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen. Color information was added using data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.

The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born.

The immense nebula contains at least a dozen brilliant stars that are estimated to be 50 to 100 times the mass of our sun. The most unique and opulent inhabitant is the star Eta Carinae, which is in the final stages of its brief and eruptive lifespan, as evidenced by two billowing lobes of gas and dust that presage its upcoming explosion as a titanic supernova.

The fireworks in the Carina region started three million years ago when the nebula’s first generation of newborn stars condensed and ignited in the middle of a huge cloud of cold molecular hydrogen. Radiation from these stars carved out an expanding bubble of hot gas. The island-like clumps of dark clouds scattered across the nebula are nodules of dust and gas that are resisting being eaten away by photoionization.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

You can see a new image from NASA every day.

Yes… things have turned out OK with the work project. Two Monday’s ago was Full’o Drama, but things have subsided since. Though technical glitches linger—and the site will likely be down much of Thursday and Friday to show for it—the heavy lifting is done and we can now build upon what we’ve done so far without the urgency we’ve felt in month’s past.

So, head to arbor.edu if you’re bored and want to look around. I’m close to being sick of the design already (since I’ve seen it for a good four or five months already), but hopefully you’ll like it.
And now, for more important things… like our Lord and Savior. He wants us to be like him. This, from Francis Frangipane’s This Day We Fight!:

God’s goal is not merely to save us, but to conform us to Christ. He seeks to perfect us, not merely protect us. To perfect faith, God intentionally allows conflicts to storm against our souls. I know we picture Jesus as gently holding us, patting us on the back, saying, “There, there, it’ll be all right.” Listen, that is not the voice of Jesus; that is the echo of your mother speaking. Thank God for mothers, but Jesus is seeking to get us to stop being such babies. He wants us to grow up into His image.

Remember, I am talking about the real Jesus now, the one who said, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). If the Jesus you are following is not leading you into the realm of the impossible to make changes in your world, you are probably following the wrong one.

You see, we do a disservice to people when we tell them, “Give you life to the Lord and He will keep you from trouble.” That is not true. We would be more honest to say, “Give your life to Christ, and He will empower you to overcome trouble and adversity.” Yes, He will take care of you. Be He will not do so by putting you in a harmless world void of problems; rather, He will perfect virtue in you by developing character and by requiring faith—all of which creates the spiritual shelter of a transformed life.

So… about an hour after yesterday’s aforementioned chat, we all went to breakfast, leaving the chaos to uncoil. I proceeded to go home, but coworker Jason walked back into the fire. He Skyped me this message while I was sound asleep:

[4/2/2007 3:19:51 PM] Jason Archer says: stay offline
[4/2/2007 3:19:54 PM] Jason Archer says: don’t come in
[4/2/2007 3:20:00 PM] Jason Archer says: all hell is breaking loose
[4/2/2007 3:20:03 PM] Jason Archer says: literally
[4/2/2007 3:20:16 PM] Jason Archer says: worse than you can imagine

Yes. Yes it has been worse than imaginable.

Eight months of work. One big mess.

It really just wraps up the whole project:

[8:00:29 AM] Chad Weibel says: oh
[8:00:32 AM] Chad Weibel says: no
[8:00:37 AM] Chad Weibel says: it doesnt seem to work