Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things. Every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.

-Albert Einstein


this touches on something i have been thinking about a lot lately, ever since Hurricane Katrina started threatening the Gulf Coast. Not that AE and I think alike all the time, but I think we are on the same page on this one, I just want to put a slightly different spin on it.

What more can we do to defend ourselves against a natural disaster or any other catastrophe, for that matter? Where are our scientists, engineers, mathmeticians, and doctors? Can't we reason our way through this? Can't the power of the mind conquer all? If we only work harder, we will come up with the answer, we will be able to solve it, we will be able to protect ourselves from such things. Science and reason and rationality and innovation; these are all we need. Isn't that what Alexander Pope and Denis Diderot were trying to convince the world of? Has it not worked rather magnificently? Yet, I cannot help but step back and look out and look up.

My response is, wow. Awesome. And this is not to be taken lightly, this is not to be sniggered at, AWEsome. I am not some stoned hippy or teenage skater-punk or a sun-baked surfer, and certainly not a turtle with amazing ninja powers mutated from the cesspools of New York's sewer system. I mean awesome in the true meaning of the word. I am being filled with awe. i am speachless. This is why the words awesome and awful come from the same root word. The TRUE meaning of these words has been lost amid middle schoolers throwing comments back and forth about how a movie, or hair style or a hot dog (thank you Eddie Izzard) are awesome. NO. they are not awesome. you would not be able to fathom life or comprehend existence or force yourself to speak of such a thing. it would render you speechless, in a state of awe.
Here are two of the dictionary definitions of awful, a word which has been used to describe the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: (emphasis added)
4: inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence; "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed heads" [syn: awed] 5: inspiring awe or admiration or wonder; "New York is an amazing city"; "the Grand Canyon is an awe-inspiring sight"; "the awesome complexity of the universe"; "this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath"- Melville;

where is the true sense of awe? why have we lost that? why do we continue to fight with our minds, bull-headed and stubborn? look around you. your own fingerprint, a snowflake, a pupil, the way water flows over rocks or up on the shore, the way smoke rises. All connected in similarity, not random. Similar, but not identical. Created with a design, but also with individuality.
Look at the universe. It is beyond our ability to comprehend how massive it is. It is awesome. How can one truly grasp its size and expanse? Yet we are not filled with wonder and awe by any of these things. We pass them by, ignore them, and go about our busy lives.

God is awesome and so is all that he created. in the true sense of the word. i should be trembling out of reverence and awe every time i think of Him, every time i step out the door and see dew on my car and the rays of the sun break through the leaves on an oak tree. He did this, He created all of this. the power and might and sheer size of my God is unfathomable. it is truly awesome.

my point is that God is immeasurably powerful and holy. he creates storms that cause millions and billions of dollars of damage. look at the thunder and lightning, tornados, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis.... creation bears witness to the awesome nature of its creator. it is not out of chaos, it is not uncontrolled mayhem. it is awesome and it should be seen as such. i have loved the feeling i have gotten (even this summer) when there is a huge thunderstorm and i am actually scared (at age 22) or when a massive wave has tossed me about and spat me up on the shore or seeing the magnitude of the Rockies or the Alps. Because at that point, my pride is stripped away and I am in awe. A feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence...inspiring awe or admiration or wonder... At that point, I see that I am small and i am weak and I am nothing in comparison to the power of the Lord of the Universe. Nothing i can build or invent or design will ever compare or protect or defend against the power of God's creation. Is God bearing down on the human race with wrath? No, I don't think so. I know He is in complete control and He is trying to get our attention. Make us snap out of our haughtiness and pride and humble ourselves before our Creator. Hurricane Katrina was awesome, the damage she brought was awful....but it has filled me with awe nonetheless. Not anger, I am not angry at God and I don't think we should be.
I am not talking about the chaos that ensued in the primitive conditions those people were living in. I am not talking about that. That truly was sad and depressing as a member of the human race to watch us revert to that kind of behavior when backed into a corner and isolated from help. I am not saying it isnt human nature, I just think we are not reminded of it enough, so it was even more shocking.

Bill Warrick's message on Sunday hit me when he was talking about the aftermath of Katrina and all the people going on national television to talk about it. he said he happened to flip to one channel where there was quite an argument raging between an atheist, a baptist, and scientologist i believe. Why would God do this to those people in New Orleans? Isn't he supposed to be loving? The baptist was giving Sunday School answers, stepping around the issue. Finally, it was the atheist, out of all of them who said (in a thick bayou-region accent) "It don't matter. God can do what he want. He God."

She is right. What can our response be but awe and reverence? He is God. He is in control. He is holy and unfathomably powerful. God can do what he want.

dont think that i have been extremely depressed recently or pessimistic, but i was thinking about how i would be ok with dying in a massive hurricane, or tornado, blizzard, avalanche, tsunami...etc. I would feel an inkling of God's true power manifested on earth through nature. surfing a hurricane? sounds awesome, in the true meaning of the word. i would be rendered speechless.

so to conclude, i will let some verses and quotes do the rest of the talking for me:

"Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. " 1 Cor. 3:18-19

"To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it." Deut. 10:14

"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it...Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ? Who may stand in his holy place?" Ps 24:1,3

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 9:10 (also Job 28:28, Proverbs 1:7, Ps 111:10)

I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details - AE

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts - AE

I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice - AE

God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically. - AE

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. - AE

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. - AE

Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust - we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper. - AE

Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind - AE


many of those close to Einstein said he would talk about God constantly while not publicly profession affiliation with any religion. They would say they thought he was a theologian in disguise, not a scientist or mathmetician. My theory is summed up in the last quote i added. He pursued science to explain things without the help of God. the further he got, the more he pushed deeper and deeper, the more struck with awe he was. Religion as a whole, or Christians specifically, cannot truly understand who they are worshipping outside of the realm of science. science contributes to faith instead of detracting. 150 mph winds, 20 foot storm surge, massive tsunamis, sunspots, or our very own DNA. They all point to the awesome nature of God, the cosmic Creator.

just think about it.....it makes you see things differently.


any and all comments or responses are welcome at boofydb@yahoo.com