I was taught that the universe grows, it has a lifetime, it dies, then is reborn again. Nature is in control and that is how nature directs all things. It grows - like stars, planets, animals, trees, storms, etc.. and it's birth is what we know as the big bang. And then eventually it dies, like anything else in nature. But nothing in nature is truly unique, not even the universe. It is here now, and a time will come when it will cease to grow and will contract, but as a result, the cycle will begin again.
As for God, that's just a name. The actions people attribute to God are real. We exist. Earth exists. The universe exists. I think labeling God a "being" belittles the idea of a God. Beings exist within the universe, but God is bigger than the universe and in fact created it, so God is much more than a being. If we all focus on the actions attributed to a "God", we will see that only one thing comes into view, and that is nature itself. Nature controls birth. Nature controls death. Nature controls the earth. Nature controls the sun. Nature controls the galaxies. Nature controls every aspect of the universe we know and don't know. Nature controls the atomic world. Name one thing in reality that nature doesn't control - you can't. Instead of focusing on names, I suggest we all focus on the real actions we attribute to these names, and what we'll find is that we'll all end up looking at the same one thing, whether religious, atheist or any or other human label we can make up.