When the Comet Sings | All is Well

I was working hard this morning, buried in agendas and spreadsheets and details of a trip I need to take next week for work. My world had shrunk to just me and my documents and my computer. I was clicking off tasks left and right, making notes, shooting off emails, highlighting charts.

In the midst of this, at about 7:30 this morning, my phone made that buzzing noise to let me know a text message had arrived.

It was from my boy.

It read “Mom! You’ve got to check out the comet on Channel One! It makes music!”

A couple of things about this text:

He probably wasn’t supposed to be sending texts during class.
He knows I love Channel One. He does too. Sigh, a son after my own heart.

Channel One used to be the highlight of my day when I substitute taught at the middle and high schools of our county. It is a brief, informative news show that is live streamed for the students before they begin their day. I love it. My kids are always telling me something interesting they have learned on Channel One, often leading to excellent conversations about culturally relevant issues.

Plus, it is quite nerdy.

I pushed back from my desk and did a search on the comet. I knew that the European Space Agency had successfully landed a spacecraft landing on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. That was very cool in and of itself. The unmanned probe that carried the spacecraft was launched in 2004. Yes, you read that right–2004! You can see a timeline of it’s journey here (at Channel One). The “route” afforded the probe a close fly-by of Mars and an asteroid. It was powered-down in 2011 in order to conserve energy–thus resulting in a 3-year blackout period where scientists basically had no idea of its status. It powered back up on January 20th of this year, 2014. And, on November 12th, the probe released the Philae lander, which experienced a successful touch-down on the comet 7 hours later.

Incredible.

(as an aside, it has kind of been fun to watch the Twitter trend #WeCanLandOnACometButWeCan’t There are some incredibly witty people out there in this world)

I did a bit of research into what my son had told me–that I needed to “hear” the comet’s music. This is the video I found:

Again, incredible.

And, once again, I am reminded of the God who creates. And, that He is creative in that creation.

When the comet “sings”, I am called to worship my God who creates, and echo the words of the psalmist in Psalm 8:3-4:

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

What is man, indeed?

When the comet “sings”, I am reminded of Isaiah 40:26, where I am commanded to “lift up my eyes and see”:

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.

And, if I believe God can create a comet that “sings” (I’m not dismissing the scientific elements of this “song” as discussed on the official Rosetta blog located here; quite the contrarily I am affirming that these scientific elements exist precisely because they were designed to exist), then I also must believe that God “sings” over me. No, I am not making some existential jump. I am saying that the God of scriptures delights in creating, and He delights in me. He delights in me! How is that even possible?

I am saying that the words of Zephaniah 3:17 are truth:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Just as the scientists of the European Space Agency have “discovered” this “song” that has existed for years, I have discovered these truths in Zephaniah which have existed for ages: