EnGRAIN This Into Your Head...

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would out number the grains of sand."
Psalm 139:17-18


Last week in Chemistry we began reviewing everything from Matter to the Periodic Table of Elements. My teacher is the type of guy who loves to throw in random facts and scientific jokes to keep the class entertained. Let's be real--it is chemistry--it's tough to be entertained so I like his logic behind the jokes. Last Tuesday (I know it's been awhile since I've p0sted so I'm just now getting my thoughts up here :)) as we talked about exponential notation, he used a great example in trying to teach notation to the class.

He asked the class, how many grains of sand are on the earth? My first thought was who has time to count sand and why do I need to know this?! Well (FYI), it turns out that a scientist in Hawaii (I'm guessing he's a surfer with too much time on his hands) came up with a formula to estimate the grains of sand on the earth. There are about 10^22 (in exponential terms which turns out to be way over 100 billion) grains of sand on the earth! I can't even write out a number that big, let alone think of that number in terms of sand! I did leave lecture that night being amazed at how much sand there was on earth and proud of myself for learning something new.

As I crawled into bed that night, I felt the Holy Spirit stirring me to pick up my bible next to my bed. I really wanted to reach for my new Suze Orman, "Young, Fabulous, and Broke" book, but I obeyed to see what was so important. I was getting the feeling I needed to read a chapter from Psalms instead of a chapter about retirement, but not knowing where to start I turned to the familiar Ps. 139. I instantly read that God's thoughts for ME AND YOU are GREATER THAN THE GRAINS OF SAND OF THIS EARTH! Can you imagine? Over 200 billion thoughts from God about you on a regular basis? That's amazing to me. I get so fixed in the mindset that I am to conquer things on my own, but then I read this and realize that God's already thought things through. He has a plan and a will for my life and his thoughts about me are more than I could ever imagine or count. I'm so thankful to have a Daddy God who is full of love, mercy, and thoughts about me.

If you have time, I challenge you to read the entire Psalm 139 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20139&version=31). It will take literally less than two minutes, but will fill the rest of your week with confidence and refreshment from the God who created you. Instead of investing in your earthly retirement (like I was about to do with Suze's book), invest yourself in Him--that's a retirement worth investing into and that no vacation to Hawaii (from your 401K investments) will ever be able to replace.