Week 40 – MORE STARS IN THE SKY THAN ALL THE SAND ON THE EARTH

It’s great to be able to share the driving with Mum and Dad. I have to admit that I have difficulty reaching the pedals on the floor so I have to ask Mum and Dad to use cruise control This works well.

I have to admit that in Saudi Arabia there is just mile after mile of desert and sand. Everywhere you look there is sand-dunes, and the way they are sculptured by the wind and the patterns they form is just amazing.

What I can’t get my head around is that when I read my bible it says there are more stars in the sky than sand on the earth - this to me is incomprehensible.

When I get a pawful of sand and try and count the grains in there, there are just too many to count.

Then I look up and see a sand-dune near me and wonder how many trillion particles of sand in there.

Then I think of the beaches in the world.? Take Mt Maunganui beach in NZ for example – 12 miles of sand.

Then I look at my surroundings in Saudi here, and as I turn 360* I see sand everywhere. Then I get to drive the car and we travel for hours with sand on every side of the road and probably 20 miles inland, either side of the road, as well, and I wonder how many sand particles are there. And this is only Saudi - it’s not even taking into account all the places on earth that have sand or sandy beaches. ?Incomprehensible, more stars in the sky that sands on the earth.

So I’m trying to put into perspective how many stars there are?

I know it takes light 1.3 seconds to go from the earth to the moon.

8 minutes to go from the earth to the sun.

225,000 years to cross our Milky Way

And a staggering 90billion light years to get to the edge of the known universe. These numbers I can’t get my head around and makes me realise how small and inconsequential I am in this universe.

During our drive through Saudi Arabia, Dad made a new friend - AS HE DOES!. As we travelled toward Muscat in Oman we stopped to have morning tea in a lay-by - very close to a Police officer siting in his car. As he was working we didn’t disturb him. After about 10 minutes he approached us and we got chatting.

Dad let him know he was ex-Police in NZ, which delighted this Police Officer, so they chatted for quite a while about their roles and Policing in general. He gave us 2 bottles of water - which is a custom the Saudi’s do to show friendship. Dad gave him one of our Kiwi Key rings, which he loved. We then turned right and carried on east toward Oman while he remained on duty near the lay-by. On this trip it is always the people you meet that make such a difference.

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