Kepler’s Business Card

Kepler

Have you ever met a dog who has his own business card? If not, then let me introduce you to Kepler so you can learn the reason for his card!

Kepler is our 11-month-old Jack Russell terrier puppy named for the Biblical creationist, mathematician, and astronomer Johann Kepler(1571-1630) who discovered the three Laws of Planetary Motion.

Kepler is an appealing little dog who draws lots of attention and stimulates strangers’ comments wherever he goes. Whether at a campground, a festival, or walking our neighborhood, Kepler considers all people and dogs friends. He is always eager to meet someone new.

I decided to put Kepler’s ability to “break the ice” with people to good use. I wanted his magnetism to “put a stone in people’s shoes.” In other words, I hoped people would leave our conversations about the dog with something significant to mull over. To that end, when people show special interest in Kepler, I give them Kepler’s card.

Like many business cards, the front of the card has the puppy’s name and picture. It includes identifying info for his namesake Johann Kepler, along with this quote from Professor Kepler:

“The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God.”

Here is a picture of the front of Kepler’s card:

Here is a picture of the back of Kepler’s card:

The Bible verses on the back of Kepler’s card are signed with paw prints. The first verse on the back is the foundational verse for the entire Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The second verse on the back is what I think of as God’s stone in man’s shoe.
“He made the stars also.“ (Genesis 1:16)

This brief comment leaps off the page from the end of a Bible verse which describes God’s creative activity on the Fourth Day of Creation (Genesis 1:16).

But in the original Hebrew the comment is even briefer — simply “and the stars“:
And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary for the rule of the day, and the small luminary — and the stars — for the rule of the night.
(Genesis 1:16, Young’s Literal Translation)

Globular Star Cluster M15
M15 with over 100,000 stars is 175 light-years across and is about 33,600 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus in the Milky Way galaxy.

Yet this very brief understated comment, just a little stone in your shoe to keep snagging your attention, is truly astronomically astounding!!! Think what “and the stars” entails:

The galaxies God made in a single day 6,000 years ago range from dwarf galaxies with “only” ten million (10,000,000) stars to giant galaxies with 100 trillion (100,000,000,000,000) stars. Our own Milky Way galaxy contains over 100 billion (100,000,000,000) stars. And there are well over 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

The total energy of all these stars and galaxies is incomprehensible to humans. The power of the Creator is beyond man’s imagination. Yet man daily dares to insult and profane his Maker. Go figure.

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

The final passage on Kepler’s card comes from the Apostle Peter’s sermon in Acts 10 for Cornelius’ relatives and friends. It outlines the basics of the Gospel:
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing…They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible…to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God…after He arose from the dead. This is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. (Acts 10:38-43)

I trust that God will use Kepler’s business card, in particular the Scripture on its back, to impact people for eternity.

Questions to Ponder

1. Has God used anyone to “put a stone in your shoe?” That is, did someone plant an idea that worried around in your head and nagged at your heart, creating a discomfort that only God could relieve? How did they slip the stone into your shoe?
2. What is your favorite technique for putting a stone in someone’s shoe?
3. Think of an ordinary question you get asked frequently. How could you use that opportunity to put a stone in someone’s shoe?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Note: I got the “put a stone in someone’s shoe” terminology from Christian apologist Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the fifth article in a series of blog posts on our Jack Russell terrier Kepler.
Read the prequels:
1. Why I Named Our Puppy “Kepler”
2. Kepler’s Kind
3. Kepler’s Lopsided Trade
4. Kepler’s Amazing Nose

Read the sequel:
6. Kepler & the Psycho Squirrel (with video)

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:4)
Wednesday March 4, 2015 A.D.

But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? (Job 12:7-10)