I’m sure that in our human stupidity we are probably contributing to the heating of the planet in many ways, but for the most part, the dramatic changes in weather and climate are caused by the natural rotation of the earth around its oblong axis. Surely everyone was paying attention in high school science, right? Didn’t your mother ever teach you that you would need that education some day?

The earth rotates around the sun in an elliptical pattern rather than a circular one. When the orbit is highly elliptical, one hemisphere will have hot summers and cold winters; the other hemisphere will have warm summers and cool winters. Many different things affect the motion of the earth as it rotates on its axis. Let’s face the truth here, this is Science 101.

Nutation is a slight irregular motion in the axis of rotation of earth (and other planets in our solar system). The process is slow, but cumulative. If the Earth were a perfect sphere, there would be no precession. Nutation occurs because the tidal forces which cause the precession of the equinoxes vary over time, so that the speed of precession is not constant. This leads to periodic climate changes known as the Milankovitch cycle. The Milankovitch cycle equals about a 1 degree change every 71.6 years. Another disturbance of the Earth’s rotation is called polar motion. Polar motion is influenced by various unpredictable things such as ocean currents, wind systems, and motions in the Earth’s core. Changes in these factors can cause radiation levels to rise all the way to 15% at high latitudes… so in simple terms, the ice plates start melting, the ocean temperatures change, wild weather starts occurring and we all become warmer.

If you study the patterns of earth, it is very simple to understand that over the next 10,000 years, northern hemisphere winters will gradually become longer and northern hemisphere summers will become shorter. The closer we tilt toward the sun, the hotter we get, the further we tilt away, the colder it gets (as in the ice age). This is just the nature of our planet.

In other words…. the earth is only going through its own self-healing process (imagine that) and there is nothing we can do to slow it down or stop it, at least nothing that will make a huge impact as some people imply.

God is in control and always has been!

SO there Al Gore

 

Acts 2:20-21

The sun will be turned darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the end of the world lately. Not the normal doomsday variety, I’m not pre-trib, post-trib or anything complicated. I heard someone once say, we’ll all get it straight on the way up and that philosophy works fine with me. I’ve been thinking more about ‘Am I ready?’. Kind of like the packing check list before a big trip. I know I’m saved so I can cross that one off the list but I’m starting to think that there is more preparation necessary.

I guess it really struck me the other day when my son called me to see the pretty sunset. I was busy, doing something important I’m sure. By the time I made it outside, it was gone. I sat there for a while playing the what-if game. What if the sun didn’t rise tomorrow? What if that was the last sunset I ever had the opportunity to see? Okay, maybe that does seem a bit doomsday but the truth is, that for many people that day it was the last. Of all the promises God has made us, tomorrow isn’t one of them.

My husband works with 345 kilovolts of electricity every day. My children are in public schools. I have four close family relatives with heart disease. I have a sister with MS, a sister with depression and a 20-year old sister that drives in Austin. Am I ready spiritually for the sun to set on these relationships? Did I do all I could to show them my love? Christ’s love? The eternal love of God?

It’s a knuckle-brained world out there and the truth is, I’m not ready. There is so much more to do, so much more to say than just good-bye. Thankfully, for me the sun did rise the next day. God gave me another opportunity and I will be eternally grateful for that. Maybe I didn’t get as much laundry done, or finish the rest of that all-important to-do list but it just didn’t seem so important anymore. I lost one sunset; I don’t intend to lose another.

Galatians 6:10

Therefore, as we have opportunity let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.