All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being that has come into being.
— John 1:3

The other day I was out in the back yard in the early morning, and was surprised by a few things.

First of all, even in mid-October there are still a good number of crickets out, singing their song which is so emblematic of summer; I checked, and apparently that will last as late as the first hard frost.

Second, I hadn’t been out so early for awhile, and it surprised me that it was still basically night out, even after 6:00 in the morning! During the summer, it gets light here as early as 5:00, but of course, it is mid-October now….

And finally, not only was it still dark, but also, the sky was very clear that morning, and I could see so many stars! It was not like being out in the country, but for Chicago, it was unusual. There was Orion’s belt, two or three stars that were especially bright that I’m sure were actually planets, and many other stars as well. And when I went in and came back out with my binoculars, I had maybe the clearest view of the moon (it was about 1/2 full) I’ve ever had by myself.

I just felt, how incredible is God’s creation, how vast is just what I could see, much of which is so many light-years away, and that is only the very tiniest fraction of it all.

I could only worship the Lord; truly, how great is our God!

But what moved me most of all was to consider this: that the one though whom “all [these] things came into being” (John 1:3), is the very same one who died on the cross for my sins:

How deep the Father’s
love for us,
How vast, beyond all measure!
That He should give
His only Son
To make a wretch
His treasure.

No one could ever properly estimate how great our God really is, nor the extent to which the Lord demonstrated His love for us even in humbling Himself to become a man, much less, in allowing those whom He created to nail Him to the cross.

No wonder David declared, and then asked, in his psalm,

O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name
in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory
above the heavens!…
When I consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars,
which You have ordained
What is man that
You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that
You visit him?
— Psalm 8:1,3

But while David could appreciate God for His creation, we can also appreciate Him for His cross. And as we meditate on both together, how we must worship Him and appreciate His love for us anew, and declare,

How great is our God and our Redeemer!
Truly, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!

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—  14 October 2025 —