Since time immemorial, men have always looked up the skies in wonder and awe. Distant and vast space might be, men have looked to the stars, planets and the moon as having influence on their lives, even ascribing divine powers to these celestial bodies. Indeed, these celestial bodies influence our lives in ways we only now are beginning to understand.
The universe is estimated to be about 14 billion years old. And in this vast universe there are between 100 billion and 200 billion galaxies according the experts. And each galaxy is made up of billions of stars. In the face of such vastness and awesome magnitude, how can one even imagine nothing. Because there is something (the universe), there must have been a beginning or an origin. Scientists generally agree that is the Big Bang. What are the odds of the universe just exploding spontaneously versus its having a creator? I’d bet on it having a Creator.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way. is a medium sized one, located almost at the edge of the universe. Experts estimate that it has a mass of about 100 billion solar masses, so it is easiest to translate that to 100 billion stars. And each of these stars have planets revolving around them. We live on a small planet revolving around a medium star (our sun), again located near the fringes of the Milky Way. What are the odds that we are alone? Because of the sheer number of planets, experts believe we are not alone in the universe. I’d bet we are alone in the universe.
Let’s come down to earth. Recently, both the Mega Millions lotto and the Powerball lotto paid out almost half a billion dollars to a few luck winners. The odds of winning one of the jackpots is roughly one in 259 million for Mega Millions and one in 292 million for Powerball. For all intents and purposes, it almost impossible to win with those kind of odds. And yet a few people do win. But each human being has in fact already won in the lottery of life. When copulating, a healthy adult male can release between 40 million and 1.2 billion sperm cells in a single ejaculation. Our odds of being in this world is one in a billion. Any other sperm cell that fertilized our mother’s egg cell and we would be totally different persons, as different as we are from our siblings.
God had a choice in creating me. He had a choice to do otherwise. He, who made the universe, the stars and the planets, willed that I would exist. He said: “I do choose. Be!” God had other options and He held all the odds of me coming into being.
In my case, God is not an option. He holds me in the palm of His hand and sustains me in my existence. Still He created me like him – a free spirit. And because of my free will, I can say otherwise and this is my prayer: “I do choose You. Make me be like you.”