The Eye of God

I was surfing blogs on blogexplosion and happened to stumble across a picture that I've seen before. My son was standing behind me when the page loaded. (age 11). We both gasped in surprise when it loaded. Yes, I've seen this before, but each time I do, it just catches me off guard. My son however had not seen it and it led to lots of questions. First of all, he's the biggest science nut in the world I think. At age 9 he decided he wanted to be a Marine Biologist when he grew up and hasn't changed again since. But he is also God's child. And when I say that he is the child of God, I mean it in the literal sense, as the bible states, but I also mean it in a "less-literal" way. He is a baby Christian. He is still learning and growing. The questions he asks are so full of innocence and the curiousity that lots of children experience when talking about God. He doesn't fully understand but in his eyes you can see he wants to so badly. It's such a beautiful thing.

My friend doesn't encourage "Santa" in their house - they know EXACTLY who Santa is in their house. She chose to tell her children because she was afraid that they would perceive God right along with Santa, The Easter Bunny and the toothfairy. I have to admit, I almost agreed with her. However, my kids were believers (my son figured it out approximately 2 years ago or so). So I asked her why she doesn't accept Santa in her house. Her answer was simple, "I don't want the children to ever confuse if God is real." Now the first thing I have to tell you about her is that she is a STRONG faithfilled Christian woman. She is also who brought me back to the church, so she is steps ahead of me in her faith. What surprised me the most about the whole thing, was that she didn't seem to have faith that God would ensure her children believed in Him. That through their blessings they would see. Regardless, they don't hear about "Santa" the way the rest of us did/do. However, they are happy well adjusted, strong faithbased Children (ok so two of her kids are under 5 so maybe not them). The oldest accepted Christ last year in a ceremony that I have to admit made me cry. It was beautiful to see a 7 year old boy, openly accepting Christ and vowing to live in his grace (so to speak).

There is a point to all this. When my son saw the picture this morning, he looked at it, gasped much the way I did, and said "Mom that's proof right there God exists." Even after reading him what it was, and I did include the exerpt we found below, he still wasn't convinced that wasn't "from God". His theory is, God created the world, so why wouldn't he make the gasses look like he was watching over us. He doesn't want us to forget. Wow! I have a really smart kid.


Here is the info we found on the photo - a lot of people dispelled it's authenticity - seem's it's authentic - just not what it sure appears to be!

This is indeed an authentic photograph — or rather, composite of photos — taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. It was featured on NASA's Website as an Astronomy Picture of the Day in May 2003 and thereafter posted on a number of Websites under the title "The Eye of God" (though I couldn't find evidence that NASA has ever referred to it as such). The awe-inspiring image has also been featured on magazine covers and in articles about space imagery.

The image depicts the so-called Helix Nebula, described by astronomers as "a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases." At its center is dying, Sun-like star which has ejected masses of dust and gas to form tentacle-like filaments stretching toward an outer rim composed of the same material. The Sun itself may look like this in several billion years.

Original Image Credit: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO).