Smaller Than a Breadbox and Larger Than a Car

I don't know how much you have read about the ingredients making up the recipe known as The Universe. You got your quarks and leptons making up the fermions. Then you got your bosons and a host of predicted particles, none of which have been observed as yet, based on theoretical considerations. Quarks come together to form neutrons and protons, which in turn come together with electrons (a type of lepton) to form atoms of the elements such as hydrogen, carbon, iron, etc. Atoms come together to form molecules, which in turn combine together to form different molecules or amalgams. Interestingly, carbon has the ability to form extremely long chains with various elemental offshoots. Also, carbon can form closed loops. Ultimately, long chains of carbon loops are what make up DNA, the backbone of all living things.

Say it with me: "THAT IS INCREDIBLE!!"

Also, the elements make up everything that exists in the Universe. Stars start out primarily consisting of hydrogen. The pressure exerted on these atoms by gravitational forces are so great that the hydrogen fuses together to form helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy. This is known as fusion.

Before hydrogen fusion was discovered, it was a mystery as to what the sun's energy source was. It was easy to believe that the Universe was quite young, such as about 6000 years, because if it were older the sun should have burnt out long ago. However, once fusion was discovered, it became clear that the sun could generate intense heat for many, many years. In fact, based on the size of the sun and its current ratio of hydrogen to helium, it is estimated that the sun could have been burning for five billion years and still have five billion years worth of life left in it. The question to young Earthers is why would God create a sun of such tremendous size that uses a fuel source that can last for billions of years if the whole Universe was only going to exist for 10,000 years or less?

Still, on the whole, the Universe is a intricate work of art. Starting with its infinitesimally small building blocks and stretching to seemingly infinite size. Forces delicately balance all the movement and transformation of these elements in apparent miraculous fashion.

Is the Universe just the way it has to be for some as yet unknown reason? Or is our Universe just a fortunate one among many Universes? Or has our Universe existed for an infinite time with the laws governing it gradually changing in favor of the one we see today? Or does it absolutely require an intelligent God for anything so stupendous as our Cosmos to exist? Profound questions that have been asked by many for a long time. Perhaps science will be able to answer these questions someday, but then again perhaps such answers are inherently unknowable. After all, our minds consist of the very things were are trying to understand. Is it possible for the constituents of the Universe to come together in such a way as to become conscious of themselves and understand their own ultimate behavior? I just don't know. But I am not alone. No one else does either.