Cleaning the basement, I found this letter I wrote my daughter Dionne Arae I edited for clarity to highlight this enigma: The first time ever I saw God's "face."
Dear Dionne,
I write this letter because your teacher told us, parents, to do so. I hope you will read this during your retreat. First, I will share this poem I've memorized since grade school just like where you are now.
In
Buried
A
Lay fast sleep.
"Wake!" said the sunshine
And crept
"Wake!"
Of the raindrops bright
The
And
What
The outside world might be.
Second, I will tell you something about your favorite subject – Science. Every morning you wake up you see through your window the sun rises behind the mountain. But that is very, very far -- 93 million miles away - so far that if we fly to go there in a jet plane, it will take us almost 20 years. By that time, you will have gotten married and have kids already.
It is also very, very hot – 5,600 degrees centigrade – so hot not only will it boil water, but also vaporize your hot chocolate cup like your superhero with laser eyes. This heat travels from the sun through outer space at the speed of light – 186,000 miles per second – as fast as lightning like your superhero. After 8 minutes of whizzing in outer space, the heat cools down, gets to earth as warm sunlight that you feel on your skin during the day. This perfect temperature cooks into carbohydrates the nutrients from carbon dioxide sniffed from the air and water sipped from the ground in the kitchens in the leaves of the plants – a process called photosynthesis – that has sustained life on Earth.
Just imagine this whole set-up goes on every second every day all year round even while you're asleep. Just imagine what will happen if the sun gets a little closer to earth – we will all be barbecued, yuck; if farther, we will all be frozen, like ice cubes, ew.
Dionne, the distance between the earth and the sun is so perfect that some guy is so cool and intelligent to have made such exact computation, just like the carpenter who made your desk and chair. The same guy you've always asked in your prayer before you go to sleep to watch over you the whole night. You call him, God.
Why am I telling you this? Sooner or later, you will meet someone who will tell you that God is a hoax, an alien, or a sky fairy. Say this: If that is so, then there's no intelligent guy behind the perfect distance between earth and sun: no intelligence, no design, and no order. Then, say this punch line: It's just saying you can make a brand new jet plane out of a heap of scraps.
But, I know you -- cool. So, just smile. You may recite the poem secretly, or look at a plant seed, or feel the warmth of sunshine, or catch the raindrops, and think to yourself: what a wonderful world -- reminding you of the intelligent guy.
Third, you may be too young to understand what I'm going to say to you next. But, I will do this as simply as I can. Here's this one thing – your Mom. The first time I saw her face, I could hardly sleep. I kept on thinking how beautiful she was. And I wanted to know more about her. In the same way, the first time I heard about this intelligent guy from a priest in our retreat in college just like you have now, I could hardly sleep. I kept on thinking about the "perfect distance" and how intelligent he was in coming up with it. And, just like your Mom, I wanted to know more about him.
Just as it was love at first sight with your Mom, so it was love at first "light" that has turned on my life by this intelligent guy – God.
Since your Dad is an engineer, I could only derive the one common denominator your Mom and God have with me – LOVE. I love them both, Dionne.
Luv U 2,
Dad
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