Initial:

• Kid Story: The creation story seems like it was made up to answer kids’ questions of how the earth, sky, animals, and humans came to be.
• Introducing God: Like all great stories, the main character God is introduced in the first sentence.  We are not told what He looks like, though presumably “He” is male. We are not told where He was before He created the universe and during the story He seems to be in some “out-of-universe” lab creating everything.
• We are in Charge: God put us in control of the earth.  It is very interesting that a storyteller from over 4000 years ago, when there were only 35 million people scattered around the world (per Wiki World Population), realized that humans would populate every corner of the earth and control its outcome.  We are in charge of the animals, birds, and seas, whether we realize it or not.  It is our collective actions, deliberate or consequential, that affect our environment.  I truly believe that over-population of humans is the biggest issue of our time.  Everything else is just a symptom!
• Stop and Smell the Roses: On a lighter note, the first story of the Bible includes some self-management tips like “God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.”  I read this to mean stop and smell the rose once in a while.  We are so caught up in doing so much in our lives that we never seem to stop, look back, and admire what we have accomplished.  Take a day off this weekend and write down what you have achieved.  Be positive and include things no matter how small they seem to you.

Controversy:

The story of creation has been rocked by controversy between creationists and scientists since the days of Galileo (1633), to the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925), and even to today. Both sides seem to be converging on common ground, though ever so slowly (think centuries).  The biggest advance has been that scientists are approaching the limits of their abilities and have no other explanation except that God did create the universe.

• God is in the Details: Cosmologists, scientists who study the workings of the universe,  have worked their way back to a “singularity”, the point where all the matter of the universe was compressed into a single, very dense mass no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence.  They believe that singularity exploded in a Big Bang to fill our universe with galaxies, stars, and ultimately planets.  However, scientists get hung up on three things: (1) what existed before the singularity, (2) what created the singularity, and (3) what made it explode into the universe?  Many scientists have concluded the only explanation is that God created the universe.  “Let there be light” sure sounds like a Big Bang.
• On a Small Scale: Cosmology is very intertwined with Quantum Physics, the study of the real small.  Physicists have peeled back the layers of matter to ever smaller levels of molecules, atoms, protons and electrons, and particles of quarks, leptons and muons.  Scientists are still chasing the “God particle”, the smallest portion of matter that makes up everything.
• Size of a Dime: Along the lines of quantum physics is the realization that ALL matter is mostly made up of “air”.  An atom is composed of a tiny nucleus of matter circled by an electron (see Wiki Atom).  So, in reality most of what we see and what we are is just air.  For example, a Carbon-12 atom is 33,000 times larger than its nucleus (per Georgia State University).  In comparison, a 165 pound person removed of all “electron air” would be just the size of a dime!
• Try to Understand Each Other: Back to the controversy.  Wherever there is more than one there will be a difference of opinion.  Life is too short to doggedly cling to one idea “because I am right” or simply because it is tradition.  Times are changing, and quickly.  We need to be able to adapt.  Try to understand other’s thoughts, ideas, views, and concerns.  At the very least, agree to disagree but don’t continue down the path of an inquisition to the exclusion of other ideas.  You never know from when or where a great idea or person shall come.