NOTE: I post this on Christmas Day, which is appropriate because it is important for all of us to remember the real purpose of Christmas. Family fun, presents and Christmas lights are great. But the real meaning of the day and season is memory of when Christ came to earth as a baby to provide a way of salvation for all of us, if we CHOOSE to accept him. So, if you read this, read it with the meaning of Christmas in mind – the real meaning as it affects you where you are.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

I attended a presentation earlier this fall where the speaker made what, for me, was a very salient point.

When you consider just the size of our galaxy, he said, not to mention hundreds of others, you have to come to a belief that it did not all happen by chance and that God created it. Note the words “you have to come to a belief.” I suppose, on occasion, someone could come to an opposite belief, contending that everything happened by chance and that there is no godly order to the universe.

Some could question the speaker’s use of the phrase “you have to come to a belief” because that implies that there is not a choice. There is.

For me, I believe in God’s handiwork, but can I prove beyond a shadow of doubt that God is the creator? No.

What matters in all of this is that individuals must come to a position where they believe in God, a decision which involves things they cannot see or touch. They have to come to this decision on their own. The inverse is also true – individuals could come to a decision not to consider whether God exists or to reject any notion that he does, on their own.

Let’s go back to our galaxy for a moment or two.

It’s no secret that the Milky Way is big, but new research shows that it may be much bigger than we ever imagined.

The research, described in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics,” indicates that our spiral galaxy’s vast rotating disk of stars spans at least 170,000 light-years, and possibly up to 200,000 light-years.

It’s hard – I say impossible — to fathom just how far that is.

If you could ride a light beam from one side of the disk to the other, it would take 200,000 years to span the distance. If you could drive across and averaged 60 miles an hour, it would take more than 2 trillion years. That’s about 150 times greater than the age of the universe, which is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years.

There are many other reasons to come to a belief that God exists, but just this one, for me, defies judgment on some other basis than that a higher power – God – created it. To believe somehow that this galaxy – and all others beyond it – just came into being strikes me as fanciful.

In the book, A Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, the author makes, as the title says, “a case for Christ.”

Here is the way Strobel puts it.

“It’s like this. If you love a person, your love goes beyond the facts of that person, but is rooted in the facts about that person. For example, you love your wife because she’s gorgeous, she’s nice, she’s sweet, she’s kind. All these things are facts about your wife, and therefore you love her.

“But your love goes beyond that. You can know all these things about your wife and not be in love with her and put your trust in her, but you do. So the decision goes beyond evidence, yet it is there also on the basis of the evidence.

“So it is with falling in love with Jesus. To have a relationship with Jesus Christ goes beyond just knowing facts about him, yet it’s rooted in the historical facts about him. I believe in Jesus on the basis of the historical evidence, but my relationship with Jesus goes way beyond the evidence. I have to put my trust in him and walk with him on a daily basis.”

That’s true for me. I believe God created the universe, and, as well, sent his Son, Jesus, to us as a way to bridge the chasm between us and God and, thus, have a relationship with God. Jesus was, in fact, God on earth.

This appears to have been true for President Ronald Reagan. In a letter to his father-in-law recently uncovered by the Washington Post, Reagan wrote this, speaking of Jesus: “It was ‘a miracle’ that a young man of 30 years without credentials as a scholar or priest had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together.”

“Either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest faker and charlatan who ever lived. But would a liar and faker suffer the death he did?”

With Reagan, I believe in Him and that means that I will live with Him forever in heaven, another fact that requires belief, not proof. While here on earth, I can have a relationship with him that relies on his grace, not my own performance.

Those who know me know that I cannot sing a lick. I couldn’t carry a tune in a wheelbarrow. Yet, the words of songs and hymns often capture my thoughts better than I could on my own.

Here is a good example.

Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out ‘cross the canyon carved by my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace has made us
His love will carry me

There’s a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There’s a cross to bridge the great divide
God is faithful
On my own I’m unable
He found me hopeless, alone and sent a Savior
He’s provided a path and promised to guide us
Safely past all the sin that would divide us
His love delivers me

The cross that cost my Lord His life
Has given me mine
There’s a bridge to cross the great divide
There’s a cross to bridge the great divide

Good words, well-used: “God provides a bridge across the great divide. God provides a cross to bridge the great divide.”

Reflect on these and your own thoughts on this Christmas Day and season. And come to your own personal decision whether God exists and, if you believe he does, what that decision means for you in terms of a relationship with Him.