"What makes night within us may leave stars." – Victor Hugo

I will make this brief as I think we have dwelt on 2020 long enough, but I did want to say goodbye to 2020 with optimism and hope.
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Despite all the inconveniences, hardships, and sadness that many of us have had to endure this past year, there have been bright spots. Talk with just about any person and those stars in the night will emerge.

I know that both my family and me personally have experienced them. Book clubs have emerged; Zoom has prompted the extended family to reconnect; and isolation has provided time to slow down and reflect.​

I would love to hear one of your “stars” of 2020. Please share.

I know the accepted adage is “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” a warning that there is danger coming. But these past few weeks of fires have shown me that the antithetical statement is also true: “Where there’s fire, there’s smoke.”

This year, no fire (so far) has threatened my hometown, but we have been affected by the smoke caused by those throughout the state. In fact, places as far away as Hawaii and Japan have experienced the smoke caused by the fires in the U.S. West. And  smoke is insidiously dangerous.

So even though many of us may not be caught in the direct path of a fire, we are still vulnerable to the unhealthy conditions that arise from it.

There are other “fires” raging around us, our nation, and the world, and each is producing its own lethal smoke. And just as we need to take precautions to keep ourselves safe and healthy from the smoke produced by the fires, so do we have to be vigilant and proactive to keep ourselves from risk in these other areas.

For instance, the “smoke” from the coronavirus is creating stress, anxiety, and depression; the “smoke” from someone’s anger has stimulated unrest and distrust, just to name a couple.

To keep ourselves healthy in these situations, sometimes we need to seek counseling or financial assistance. At times we need to remove ourselves from situations while at other times we need to be proactive and get involved.

Of course, our first response in these “smoky” situations should always be to turn to God who is our sustainer.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.” Psalm 55:22

“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”  I Peter 5:7

However, there is a flip-side to these scenarios which is also true: Smoke from someone's kindness can produce hope, and the smoke of a selfless act can save a life.

God has put us and others here to be his hands and feet on earth. There are physical, mental, and emotional things we can do for ourselves and others, and that others can do for us, during these difficult times.

So we would be wise to remember that the “smoke” from any of our actions and words (positive or negative) creates a ripple effect, impacting those around us and possibly people we may not even know.

I would like to leave you with a song by Matthew West. It came out in 2014, but once again, it has a message for today.

It has been a rough few months and an even rougher past couple of weeks, hasn’t it? It’s about time for a bit of good news.

Like many, I took a break last Saturday from the now numbing news of corona virus and the acute pain of the death of George Floyd and its aftermath to watch the launch of the Space X Dragon carrying two American astronauts to the International Space Station. The first space launch from American soil in close to a decade.



It took me back years as I felt the same excitement and nervousness I had when I watched the Mercury (I think), the Gemini, the Apollo, and the Space Shuttle launches. I followed the NASA duo while they jettisoned the first two stages and were safely into orbit. I would have kept watching, but it was a nineteen hour ride, so I opted to tune back in the next morning and watch the docking.

Ironically, that same day (Saturday), my sister-in-law sent the family a link to a YouTube video based on the book The Privileged Planet:The Search for Purpose in the Universe by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards. I procrastinated opening it because I thought I knew what it was going to say . . . and I did . . . to a point.

In contrast to Carl Sagan’s assertion that Earth is merely an insignificant blue dot in a vast universe, Gonzalez and Richards claim that Earth is unique and rare. It exists in the only habitable zone in our solar system and has the twenty necessary factors needed for life, in the exact configuration needed, and all occurring simultaneously. Any variance at all, however slight, would be catastrophic. The probability of that occurring is infinitesimal.

I knew that. I had heard that before. I hadn’t, however, heard the next part.

That our position in the universe was also unique. That Earth is positioned in the only habitable zone in our galaxy. Not only that, it is perfectly positioned between two spiral gaseous arms to allow us to see the universe clearly, and it is located central in the galaxy to avoid the hazards of the dangerous middle and outer edges.

Because of its location, Earth is the one place that allows for scientific discovery at all levels––from geology to intergalactic exploration. The final irony? This vast universe is understandable to humans. Therefore, it begs discovery. And humans are driven to explore.

Neither Gonzales nor Richards believe this is by chance. Humans do not need to know this information in order to survive. These discoveries are beyond that. So why? What’s the purpose of it? Were we just lucky, or were we placed here by design?

I strongly encourage you to watch the hour-long documentary. It has so much more to say, and is fascinating. The additional thirty minutes are excerpts from the interviews with scientists that were not included in the documentary. That information is fascinating as well.

But let me leave you with a few verses that point to the reason we are where we are.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

As the documentary asserts –– because we are where we are, we can glimpse the mind of God.