- Operation Christmas Child. Every year, we fill shoeboxes with toys, candy, socks, and other accessories. We take them to one of Operation Christmas Child's pickup places, and Operation Christmas Child takes the shoeboxes to kids in other countries. They share the gospel with the children and distributed the shoeboxes. We have done it for several years, and it's so much fun packing them and knowing that little children will be blessed and they will hear the gospel.
- Fall time. I have 2 favorite times of the year, and Fall is one of them. :) Here's a creation moment about plants knowing when it's Fall.
1 Corinthians 15:37-38 "And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body."
In the fall the plants and trees of much of the Earth's northern hemisphere prepare for winter. Flowers lose their petals, and the leaves fall from trees as the air begins to become cooler. But there is far more to this change in the plants than simply a response to lower temperatures.
Many, if not most, plants measure the relative length of darkness to light in a 24-hour day to tell them to prepare for winter. In a similar way, they measure the relative length of light to darkness to tell them to prepare for spring. Other living plants seem to integrate time and temperature to prepare for the seasonal change. Apple buds, for example, need 1,000 to 1,400 hours of near-freezing temperatures before they even think about spring.
When winter finally arrives, we may wake up to what is a white and seemingly sterile world. It is then hard to believe that the plants and trees are out there sleeping while measuring time and temperature to be awake again in the spring.
It is no less a mystery to all of us that one day the dead will rise and believers will spend eternity with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet, life rising so gloriously out of the apparent dead of winter shows a similar power of our Creator on a smaller scale.
- The Solar System. I think what amazes me the most about our Solar System is how big it is. Here's a creation moment about our Solar System.
Creation Corner. Has a Solar System Like Ours Been Discovered?
Psalms 8:3-4b"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
We have all heard reports of astronomers claiming that they have discovered a planet orbiting some nearby star. Each announcement results in speculation about whether there is intelligent life on the newly discovered planet. Lost is the fact that some planets are larger than Jupiter and made of gas. Scientists discover these planets by studying hundreds of telescopic pictures of a suspect star to see if 
there may be a tiny wobble in its position. A single-motion wobble is explained by the existence of one orbiting planet, meaning that this solar system does not have multiple planets like ours does.
That situation changed with an announcement in April 1999. Two teams of researchers announced that they had discovered three planets orbiting nearby star Upsilon Andromedae. However, this solar system is not like ours either. The inner planet is so close to the star that it is hotter than Mercury – no life there. The second planet's orbit takes it close to the star, then swings wide away from it. Such an orbit would provide temperature conditions far too erratic for life like that on Earth. The third planet is too far from Upsilon Andromedae and, thus, too cold to provide a home for life like ours.
Our solar system is not a result of chance but has been uniquely designed for life by a loving Creator. Not only is Earth's distance from the sun just right for life, but its orbit provides the even, moderate conditions that life requires.
That situation changed with an announcement in April 1999. Two teams of researchers announced that they had discovered three planets orbiting nearby star Upsilon Andromedae. However, this solar system is not like ours either. The inner planet is so close to the star that it is hotter than Mercury – no life there. The second planet's orbit takes it close to the star, then swings wide away from it. Such an orbit would provide temperature conditions far too erratic for life like that on Earth. The third planet is too far from Upsilon Andromedae and, thus, too cold to provide a home for life like ours.
Our solar system is not a result of chance but has been uniquely designed for life by a loving Creator. Not only is Earth's distance from the sun just right for life, but its orbit provides the even, moderate conditions that life requires.
Great post Ashley!
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