Orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 57 milliom km, is little Mercury. This tiny world is barely bigger than our Moon and has a similar appearance,  being battered and subsequently cratered sometime in it's past.

When I was a kid, I thought for sure that this planet would be super hot and no other planet in the Solar System would compare. Well, I was half right!

Temperatures on Mercury during it's day are certainly hot! They soar to more than 420 degrees Celsius,  which is hot enough to melt lead; but here's the surprise,  during nighttime,  the temperature plummets to -170ºC...talk about a chilly night out!

This just doesn't seem right, does it? This place should just be plain hot, right?

How often we think we have a situation,  a brother or sister, the will of God, summed up! It's so obvious, right? 1 + 1 = 2...or does it? Mercury really does surprise,  and so too does the Lord surprise us with His grace and mercy; and how wrong we actually have things sometimes! It is of no shock at all to Jesus that Mercury, which He created, gets that cold! He knows all. But we, well, we don't know and how we need to look to and rely upon, the One who does! As Jesus Himself said, "Judge not according to the appearance,  but judge righteous judgement" - John 7:24.

 This Shepherd's love is NOT COLD.