Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Fully sick and totally random

Had the most amazing experience tonight.

We booked in for the Family Astronomy Night at the local university and saw a presentation on black holes, which was mostly incomprehensible, but nonetheless interesting.  (My notes from the lecture are even more interesting as they were written in the dark with a none too sharp pencil!  We heard about "spaghettification", which has to be the second best word I have learned this week after pandiculation.

Then, then! we got to look at the night sky through two of the telescopes.  Despite a lot of pollution in the air from fires - it was smoke so presumably it came from a fire somewhere?? the view was spectacular.

ALPHA CENTAURI

We saw Alpha Centauri through the first telescope.  It was hard to stand still enough to see a constant clear image, but the double star could be seen.  It was incredible to see with such clarity what the naked eye misses.  The chappie with the telescope assured us that there were actually three stars there, but I'll have to take his word for it.

BUTTERFLY NEBULA?

I think this was the second thing we viewed through the larger of the two telescopes, but I'm not sure.  It could have been a butterfly I suppose, but the thing that spun me out was this: looking at the sky with the naked eye, about 15 stars/objects were visible.  Look at the same place through the telescope however and thousands of stars instantly sprang into view.  It was (literally) breathtaking.

Then, the piece de resistance, and the one thing we booked in to see:

JUPITER

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

I was expecting to see a white blob in the sky.

I saw a planet, not white but slightly beige with darker brown stripes running through it.  I saw three of the 49-odd moons, the Galilean moons to be precise.  There are four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto, but I don't know which three we saw tonight. 

Mind blowing, indescribable wonder is the only way I can think of to describe what we saw tonight.  it was nothing short of incredible and worth every cent of the $35 it cost for a family ticket.

I want to go back and look again.

I want to say along with the Psalmist

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

 Day after day they pour forth speech; 
  night after night they display knowledge.

 There is no speech or language
   where their voice is not heard.

 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4

The whole earth is full of His glory indeed.

Proud Mama

We got Chickabid's NAPLAN results this week.

He got into Band 4 for Reading, Spelling and Numeracy and Band 5 for Grammar and Punctuation.

We were thrilled to bits :) :)

He scored righton the average for Reading, a bit below average for spelling, above average for Grammar/Punctuation and abover average for Numeracy.

We couldn't be happier :)

Well done, little man.

Who knew?

Nine days ago I wrote this and under point #1 I had SERVE, with an open-ended 'if opportunity comes' attached.

Well, knock me over with a dead fish if two different opportunities didn't come my way yesterday, from out of a clear blue sky and an unexpected source.

I've got two projects on the "thinking and praying" pile right now.  They're not up to the point at which I could share, but as soon as I can I will.

One would involve a certain amount of honesty and punch-in-the-guts authenticity, not to mention tact, and from that point of view it scares me a bit, but my prayer is that God will make it clear whether to proceed or not.

Be careful what you pray for ;) 

Confession

I've never seen The Princess Bride.

Never.

But I keep reading about it hither and yon, so I as wondering: what is so good about The Princess Bride?  Should I go out and hire it tomorrow?  Why?  Why not?

I'd love for you to answer in the comments.

Joe Slowinski and the Many Banded Krait

Until tonight I had never heard of Joe Slowinski nor had I ever heard of the many-banded krait.  Dr Slowinski and the krait met one another in Burma on 11th September, 2001.  Remember that date?  Kraits are amongst the deadliest snakes on the planet and being bitten by one in a Burmese jungle does not put a person in a good space.  The story of what transpired is worth a read, but don't be like me and read it immediately before bed.

As with most really deadly creatures, kraits are quite beautiful to look at.  The danger that they pose is well hidden and a bite can be barely noticed.  The neurotoxin can take up to 12 - 16 hours to begin to take effect, but unless urgent medical attention is sought, death is inevitable.

This got me thinking a bit, especially as tonight we were looking at Romans 6.  Looking at this passge:

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

a few things stood out.

Sin is like the bite of a krait.  It can be barely noticeable.  But its insidious effects have repercussions of a momentous nature and like the bite of a krait, without serious intervention, it results in death.  Like the krait, sin can seem quite lovely, even desirable, but is nonetheless lethal.

Human scientists have been able to develop an antivenom for the bite of the krait which has some limited success.  It depends a lot on how soon the antivenom can be accessed and which particular variety of krait did the biting.  It might work, or it might not.

God has supplied us with an "antivenom" for sin in the form of Jesus Christ.  This cure for sin is all encompassing, all covering, applied once and never fails.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3