Happy New Year
Jeny and I wish you the very best for 2022.
My New Year’s resolution is to keep learning. Thank you for your role in that process.
My latest, big-learning experience happened while doing research for a poem. I was interested in the sight of Venus in the evening sky. When visible from Earth it does not move far to the naked eye. I was surprised to learn it moves that small distance to my eye on earth at an astounding 78,000 miles per hour!
I never took an Astronomy course. My knowledge of the space has been limited to some knowledge of the planets and a few of the constellations. I am missing many details, so I became curious about how fast Earth is moving and how far we travel in one year.
We are traveling 242 miles per second, about 67,000 miles per hour, for a total of around 584 million miles a year. If those figures aren’t staggering enough, add the idea we are also rotating at around 1000 miles per hour.
Growing up, I could not ride several rides in Joy Land Amusement Park because I could not spin without getting nauseous. My new awareness of how fast I am moving as well as spinning was fascinating to me.
As with many thoughts of the complicated vastness of space, my new knowledge made me feel small. Feeling small helps me be humble.
I believe smallness is yeast for humility. When properly baked, humility is manna for wisdom.
Here’s hoping and praying we make another 540 million miles, and they are healthy, peaceful and filled with good learning experiences.
We are late with our cards this year. Some of you will get New Year cards.
I am preaching Sunday, January 2. If interested, you can watch on Facebook. Go to Providence Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama. Click on videos. We are live at 9:15, but it can be seen on tape at later times.
Peace
Jerry
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