1977. I remember that year like it was, well, day before yesterday. But it was almost 50 years ago. Wow. And that’s the year NASA launched Voyager 1 into space. And that little spaceship is still traveling through space. In fact, I just read a cool, short blurb about it. The headline said…
Voyager 1: A Time Capsule Still Exploring The Cosmos
They followed that up with…
Over 15 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory, an 8-track tape recorder, and code written in FORTRAN. It’s controlled using 50-year-old blueprints and takes 22 hours to receive a single command.
Why it still works?
- Rugged, radiation-hardened parts
- Simple, reliable design
- Backup systems
- Engineers who think like it’s 1977
And they finished up the blurb with “A true marvel of human ingenuity.”
Then, they showed a rendered picture (because there aren’t photographers snapping shots of it) of Voyager 1 superimposed over a backdrop of the Milky Way.
And as I checked out the picture, I thought about what the “great minds” of aerospace, in their ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, would say if something that simple wandered into Earth’s orbit.
No doubt, they’d be all a-flutter. And they’d rave on about finally finding proof of other intelligent life “out there.”
Because they’re goo goo gaga over a spaceship in the cosmos.
But the cosmos?
Not so much. Naw, it’s just a big bunch of space to explore. Oh sure, they love to bandy their big numbers around. This is 2 trillion light years away from that. And the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. And how the largest black holes in the universe are more than 70-80 billion times bigger than the sun.
But those YUGE numbers are mostly to reinforce their big bang skewed idea that there MUST be other intelligent life “out there.”
And that’s ironic, since the cosmos, itself, is the evidence.
Yeesh.
Little Voyager 1 runs on a fraction of one megabyte of memory. That’s tiny. The whole spaceship wouldn’t even be a fraction of a dimple in God’s smile. But people are amazed at how it can still operate all those miles from Earth. And they’re so impressed with engineers who could design such an amazing thing.
And that awestruck amazement runs through brains that are exponentially more complex. Brains so complex they can run a system of systems, your body, even while you’re asleep and not even consciously aware of it.
But that’s just the start.
Because your body lives on a planet ideally suited for human life. And that planet is part of solar system that runs consistently and dependably through the galaxy.
And the galaxy moves consistently and dependably through the universe. A universe (aka: the cosmos) that is observably stable enough to contain everything in it. A universe that’s the ultimate sign of intelligent life. And design.
Design ALWAYS points to a designer.
I’m not foolish enough to look at the big, beautiful sky, day or night, and say there is no God and that it all happened by chance. Sadly, most people ARE that foolish.
I know just about all my listeners and readers aren’t that foolish. So, I urge you to not give up on those who are. Because their eternal souls depend on us sharing the hope of the power of God’s love. And the power of that love made eternal life available to all.
If you’re like a little Voyager 1, traveling through the vast space of non-believing or skeptical people, remember, you have WAY more than 69 kilobytes of memory to draw from. You can use your incredibly complex brain to tap into the infinite source of Life. So, ask God to help you increase your knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
Then, remember, you are…
In This World But Not Of It
I’m in this world but not of it.
I like this life but don’t love it.
My Savior rises above it.
I’m in this world but not of it.
This world can beat me up.
But this world is not my home.
I have a finer place where I will forever roam.
This world’s no easy street.
This world is not so nice.
It costs a lot to leave, but my Father paid the price.
So: (Chorus)
This world has lots of love,
But this world is filled with hate.
One day it won’t be so, and so I can hardly wait.
This world has moans and groans.
This world has aches and pain,
But soon even this shall pass, Jesus the King will reign.
Chorus…inst…chorus 3 times
© 2008
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