Tag: astronomy

Friday Factoid Week 4

· Leave a comment ·

This week I studied what is known about Black Holes which are invisible so we can only learn about them by learning about what is going on around them. A lot of people think that stuff gets sucked into Black Holes but that is not true. Black Holes are invisible because light can not get out. This is because space and time are traveling toward the center at the same speed as light.

Stellar Black Holes form when huge stars collapse in on themselves. Super-massive Black Holes, like the one in the middle of our galaxy were formed at creation. Here are some videos you might enjoy.  This one is Christian and this one isn’t (Joel, age 13).

 

 

And here’s a flashback to what was going on in our Hawaiian homeschool 6 years ago this week.

Devo 4

· Leave a comment ·

“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.’  And it was so.”  Genesis 1:14,15

When, as the Psalmist said, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host (Psalm 33:6),” it was no random breath that exhaled the starry sky.  God said from the beginning that the lights in the heavens were to be “for signs and for seasons.”  There was an order to their placement and that order was meant to tell both time and truth.  But to whom?  And signs for what?  At this point in creation there wasn’t a single living thing on earth.  It was just skies and seas and rocks and trees.  

But the Creator was setting His stage.  The great story of redemption was about to unfold and these stage lights would play a big part in the drama.  Before the first actors ever took their first breath, sun and moon and stars had already been given their lines.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:  I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and stars for light by night.”  Jeremiah 31:31-35

True to the script, there were wise men studying the fixed order of the stars, and they saw a sign.  The sign of one born king of the Jews.  They saw His star when it rose and they came to worship Him (Matthew 2:1-12).  This child over whom the star rested had come to bring His people the very forgiveness spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah.  

But that was just His first coming.

The stars in their courses have lines yet to speak.

The Star Breather Himself, the one born King of the Jews, spoke of His return this way in Matthew 24:29-31.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will turn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

And again in Luke 21:25-28.   

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.  For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a clown with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 

The Star Breather is coming again to redeem His forgiven ones!  All creation has been set in place to prepare and declare His arrival.  When the stars speak their lines, how will you respond?  In distress and perplexity, fainting and fear and foreboding?  May it not be!  Repent, and as the prophet Jeremiah said, He will remember your sins no more.  Then you, too, may straighten up and raise your head, for your Redeemer comes in the clouds!

Friday Factoid Week 3

· 3 Comments ·

Factoid #1:  All the darkness in space is not just emptiness. There is all this stuff called dark energy and dark matter. It is all vary confusing and mysterious as you will see in this amazing video (by Joel, 13).

Factoid #2:  We had our Back -2- School  Benediction  and watched the Imax Hubble movie outside with our friends. It shows  Orion Nebula and the star nursery with all the baby stars. The wind is blowing so fast it stunts the stars growth (by Nate, 11).

Factoid #3: On benediction night  we looked through our rad new telescope and  was able to spot the Sea of Tranquility where the rad astronauts landed (by Sam, 9).

And here’s a flashback  to what was going on in our Hawaii homeschool 6 years ago this week.  And here’s another just for fun!

Teacher’s Two-Cents: Back-2-School time just isn’t complete without a benediction on our year.  This year we gathered with other homeschooling families on the ball-field and circled up to pray over our students and teachers. Our scripture prayer was Deuteronomy 32:1-3,

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.  For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God.”

We prayed that as teachers, our words would be gentle, nourishing, life giving words.  We prayed for our students, our children, that as our teaching fell on them as upon tender grass, that their own hearts would be moldable, pliable and tender to the things of the Lord.  And we prayed for our homes that they would be places of proclamation of the name of the Lord and that in all things we would ascribe greatness to our God.

Now, an even better part of Back-2-School time is Hartland’s Homeschool Family Camp which is happening RIGHT NOW!  No better way to kick things off than for your whole family to gather in the beautiful Sequoia forest of California’s Sierra Nevadas with tons of other home-schooling families to sit under the Word, worship with the Shaw Family Band, learn from amazing science teachers and participate in the myriad of outdoor activities this camp offers.  And moms, the best part for you is that once you’re here, there’s no cooking, no cleaning, no driving and no wifi.  Don’t worry if you missed out on this one, there’s another Hartland Homeschool Family Camp in May.  See you all there!