{"id":3270,"date":"2024-01-02T10:02:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2024-01-02T10:03:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T15:03:29","slug":"good-disasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/02\/good-disasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,<\/em>\u00a0click here<\/a>
\u00a0
What swept the dinosaurs from the face of the Earth?
\u00a0
That question has puzzled paleontologists for a very long time.\u00a0
\u00a0
This year marks the 200th<\/sup> anniversary of the arrival of every school child\u2019s favorite critters onto the international stage.\u00a0 In 1824, Oxford geology professor William Buckland declared that a set of fossilized bones belonged to an extinct predator that he named Megalosaurus<\/em> (which loosely translated means, \u201cA freaking big lizard\u201d).\u00a0
\u00a0
At least 700 species of dinosaurs have since been identified, currently at a rate of about one new addition per week.\u00a0 The geological record suggests that these extraordinary creatures dominated our planet for as long as 175 million years.\u00a0 Then, about 66 million years ago, they suddenly vanished.\u00a0
\u00a0
What happened?\u00a0
\u00a0
Between 1840 and 1940, paleontologists fielded over 100 different theories.\u00a0 Perhaps dinosaurs ate all the available food.\u00a0 Or they were poisoned by noxious vegetation.\u00a0 Or they succumbed to terminal hay fever from the new kinds of flowering plants that appeared during the Cretaceous period.\u00a0 One scientist even proposed that they gassed themselves to death, having generated too much methane and the resulting dino flatulence.\u00a0
\u00a0
Perhaps small mammals developed a fondness for dinosaur eggs.\u00a0 I remember as a child seeing artistic depictions of rat-like creatures plundering T-Rex nests.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s possible that an epic series of volcanic eruptions made life untenable.\u00a0 Or maybe Earth\u2019s climate somehow became too hot, too cold, too wet, or too dry, and the dinosaurs finally ran out of adaptive options.
\u00a0
All of those theories aligned with the speculations of one of the 19th<\/sup> century\u2019s most famous scientists, Charles Lyell.\u00a0 The British geologist, who strongly influenced Chales Darwin, vigorously advocated the doctrine of \u201cuniformitarianism.\u201d\u00a0 Lyell believed that virtually everything that had ever happened in natural history had happened slowly.\u00a0 Imperceptibly.\u00a0 At a leisurely, uniform pace that could be identified and measured.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Above all, Lyell had no love for \u201ccatastrophism,\u201d the idea that sudden, dramatic events could change everything.\u00a0
\u00a0
Lyell dismissed the catastrophists who speculated that something from outer space might have toppled the dinosaurs.\u00a0 He also waved aside the Bible students who proposed that Noah\u2019s Flood was the real culprit \u2013 leaving us to wonder why Stegosaurus and Triceratops somehow failed to receive tickets for the ark.\u00a0
\u00a0
Then, in 1980, a startling discovery changed the conversation.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
A geological research team led by Nobel Prize-winner Luis Alvarez proposed that the Earth had been struck by a gigantic cosmic object.\u00a0 Alvarez noticed, all over the world, that the thin layer of dark clay at the so-called K-T boundary (between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods) is unusually rich in the rare metal iridium, which is known to be abundant in asteroids.\u00a0
\u00a0
The strata below the K-T boundary (those would be the older rocks in the geological timeline) are packed with dino remains.\u00a0 And above the K-T boundary?\u00a0 Not a single dinosaur fossil has ever been found.
\u00a0
Alvarez hypothesized that the iridium-rich clay boundary is proof that an asteroid or comet of immense size slammed into the Earth.\u00a0 The result was a dinosaur apocalypse.\u00a0 Subsequent investigation has suggested that the 90-mile-wide Chicxulub crater near Mexico\u2019s Yucatan peninsula is the likely impact site.
\u00a0
And when did the mountain-sized Chicxulub object enter our atmosphere?\u00a0 It happened about 66 million years ago \u2013 the very time the fossil record reveals the end of the dinosaurs, and approximately 66 million years before Bruce Willis would be available to save the planet.
\u00a0
Almost overnight, the uniformitarians were out of business.\u00a0
\u00a0
Paleontologists now believe that at least five different catastrophes, or mass extinction events, are discernible in the storybook of the ground beneath our feet.\u00a0
\u00a0
Charles Lyell\u2019s geological convictions may be yesterday\u2019s news.\u00a0 But cultural<\/em> uniformitarianism seems to be alive and well.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s all too common to imagine the average American life as a predictable series of events.\u00a0 We tell our kids that if all goes well, they will grow up, go to school, earn a degree, marry a wonderful person, find a job they love, raise a family, save their money, retire comfortably, then play a lot of golf and take their grandchildren on special trips.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Along the way, we will root for them to get excited about Jesus, attend a lot of Christmas Eve and Easter services \u2013 and, well, probably the next most interesting thing that will happen to them spiritually is that they will die.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
That\u2019s America\u2019s watered-down version of the Good Life.\u00a0 It\u2019s sane, pleasant, and predictable.
\u00a0
The problem, of course, is that nobody\u2019s life really looks like that.\u00a0
\u00a0
If we were entirely honest with our kids, we would tell them that uniformitarianism is hogwash.\u00a0 Their worlds will almost certainly be rocked by catastrophes that no one will see coming.\u00a0 The drunk driver.\u00a0 The heart-stopping CT-scan.\u00a0 The special needs child.\u00a0 The addiction.\u00a0 The \u201creduction in force\u201d at work.\u00a0 The divorce.\u00a0 The tsunamis of anger, loneliness, and depression.\u00a0
\u00a0
One day, seemingly out of a clear blue sky, their worlds will implode.\u00a0 And they will wonder if they can even go on.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s often at such moments, however, that we discover the true source of our hope.\u00a0 The next most interesting thing that will happen to us spiritually turns out not to be when we die \u2013 when we finally see Jesus face to face \u2013 but when we discover that he actually keeps his promises to us right here and right now.\u00a0
\u00a0
British author J.R.R. Tolkien, celebrated for The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, called it \u201ceucatastrophe.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the good disaster, the life-threatening moment that gives us life instead.\u00a0 The health crisis brings us to our knees.\u00a0 The lost job opens unexpected doors.\u00a0 The special child teaches us how to love in ways we could never have imagined.\u00a0
\u00a0
In the Old Testament, the worst thing that ever happened to Joseph became the best thing that could ever have happened to the rest of his family.\u00a0 In the New Testament, the worst thing that ever happened to Jesus became the best thing that could ever have happened to the rest of the world.
\u00a0
Tragedy turns into triumph.\u00a0 Weakness becomes strength.\u00a0 Unimaginable loss becomes unexpected gain.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Through it all, we are never alone.
\u00a0
The Gospel of Matthew opens with the Child named Immanuel, God-With-Us<\/em>.\u00a0 And it closes with Jesus assuring his friends, \u201cSurely I am with you always, to the very end of the age\u201d (Matthew 28:20).
\u00a0
He is always with us, and he is always at work.\u00a0
\u00a0
Which means that whatever might seem like the end of your world in 2024 may turn out to be one of God\u2019s most surprising gifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here\u00a0What swept the dinosaurs from the face of the Earth?\u00a0That question has puzzled paleontologists for a very long time.\u00a0\u00a0This year marks the 200th anniversary of the arrival of every school child\u2019s favorite critters onto the international stage.\u00a0 In 1824, Oxford geology professor William Buckland declared that a set of fossilized bones… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3270"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3275,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3270\/revisions\/3275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}