Counting the Stars:

The other day I heard a person talking about the stars and the amazing number of stars that dot the galaxies of our universe. The number 1 trillion came as a round number to number the stars.
The question was raised, “Do you have any concept of what 1 trillion is?” Well, of course I don’t.
Think of it like this, I learned. If a person could count from one to 1 trillion, saying 1 number every second (of course that would be hard when one gets to 575,637,438, for example – but for the sake of this illustration say that it were possible) it would take 30,000 years to count that far. That’s right, it would take 300 plus life times to count from 1 to 1 trillion, to number the stars, if you will.
Chris Tomlin in the song “Indescribable” says of God, “You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name....”
Can you capture that? God not only created this wonderful universe, but he took the time to ‘name’ every one of the stars. I have to think that his naming process wasn’t as flippant as a name every second. I think he poured over his creation and thought deeply about the names he’d give even the stars. And after giving those names, he remembers and knows those names.
I recently had a conversation with an individual whose extended family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren has grown into the range of 30. The individual said, “I can’t even keep their names straight any more.”
But God can. He keeps the names of the stars straight and he keeps our names straight.
If you’re ever having one of those days when you feel like you don’t count. Please know you do count. Not only do you count, God knows your name, your hurt, your weakness and your needs. And God will tend to you because he not only created you, but he knows you by name. More than that he knows you well enough to die and rise again for your eternal well-being, your eternal destiny.