Spencer Manning is a private investigator. He solves mysteries. So far he’s solved them all. But then I have some control over that. I have purposefully not given much description of Spencer so that each reader can form their own image of how he looks. But the stories aren’t dependent on what he looks like. They are dependent on how he thinks, because how he thinks is why he has solved all of his cases. And how he thinks is very logical and based on facts. He collects information, asks questions, makes logical assumptions, rules out the impossible, and arrives at a solution.
During the last story, Spencer moved into his parents’ house. They had been killed in a questionable car accident, and he is trying to live with the memories and the ghosts that haunt his dreams. One of those memories sits on the back porch. In the next story, Spencer takes out the telescope that his dad taught him how to use. They had spent many nights looking at the sky, wondering about the ‘big picture,’ and asking each other questions about Creation, what God was, and where humans fit into that big picture.
Where we fit into the picture is rather philosophical, but the picture at the left is interesting. The similarities in structure are amazing and leave a lot of room for thought.
Spencer’s dad explained the Big Bang Theory. Everything in the universe formed out of a single, tiny point of energy, perhaps the size of a proton. That was something Spencer’s fact-based mind had trouble accepting. It didn’t make much sense. But the evidence seemed to point in that direction. Science has shown that the universe is expanding. If that expansion were reversed, it would end at a single point.
There were enough facts there for Spencer to accept the theory. But the question about God was still on the table. And the theory only answers part of the creation question. We humans formed out of matter found in stardust that evolved out of the big bang. But where did the proton come
from? I have spoken with two astrophysicists and asked them that question. Their answer?—they don’t care. They only care about what their science can explain, and their science cannot explain where the proton came from… it can’t even explain the proton. Their equations only work shortly after the proton explodes.
But Spencer cares. The question haunts him. He and Dad had come up with two possible answers. Either there was some scientific explanation beyond our knowledge, or God had put it there. But that wasn’t really an answer. If there was some scientific explanation, then what was
the reason behind that? No matter how much could be explained by science, at some point there had to be a beginning that could only be explained by faith.
Every time Spencer sees the telescope he is reminded of those conversations with Dad and wonders if Dad has any more answers now than he had on the back porch. He still wonders but tries not to think much about it. It’s a mystery that can’t be solved with facts. Imagine how frustrated Spencer feels about that unsolved mystery!