When I (Jerald) was a teenager, I remember reading an article about the cosmos in the National Geographic. Featured were new and stunning pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope of outer space. With powerful optics - and unaffected by the refraction of earth’s atmosphere - this satellite brought the world snapshots of ‘the great out there’ never seen or even imagined before!

One image I will never forget. It was one of those fold-out pages often featured in the magazine. This was primarily dark, yet covered with dots of varying brightness. But the background wasn’t exactly black either; rather it was grainy, like when you take a picture with a digital camera in low light.

The caption explained that each of the bright dots was in fact a galaxy with billions of stars, and each of the ‘grains’ that made up the backdrop were individual stars. To take this picture, the lens of the satellite camera had stayed open for ten day. They explained that this part of space - when observed from earth with the naked eye - would take in the amount of sky that would be covered if you held a quarter (coin) at arm’s length.

But it was the last observation that absolutely blew my mind, and is no doubt the reason I remember this with such clarity. This was a patch in outer space that was remarkable in that it appeared to be utterly black, so scientists had taken this picture in hopes of possibly finding the edge of the universe. If that doesn’t send shivers up you back, maybe you should go back and read it again!

The first line of the Story reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

Right off the bat we find the main character in the story is not you or me. It’s God. And the rest of The Story will unfold out of the nature and person of this character. Just ten words in and there is enough action to leave you breathless.

It doesn’t take long to find out what God’s great passion is. Birds? Nope. Animals? Not quite. Sun, moon or stars? Bright guess. No, in Genesis 3:8 we find that God is walking in the Garden with Adam and Eve in the “cool of the day.”

Sounds nice if you are in a hot, humid climate, doesn’t it? And yet the “cool of the day” is not the focus. God is, and he is near. He is right with Adam and Eve. And he is right here with us. His simple vision for his creation was to spend time with them every day, to take a walk with them. God’s supreme passion is to be with us.

Some of you have lived your life with the idea that God is some angry cosmic kill-joy who sits in the heavens and watches you, waiting for you to make a mistake so he can zap you. Or, you feel he is distant and doesn’t care or has simply forgotten you.

But from the beginning he has shown us this is not the case. He wants to be with you. He has not forgotten you. In fact, this might be the perfect time for you to go for a walk. Or look up at the stars.