Ensign: So You Want To Go To Mars
AN
ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 10 May 2013
Well,
that's a link above to a Dutch corporation that is working to make it
happen and they're taking applicants now, from all over the world.
And unlike previous (read: government-sponsored) space programs, a
background in aeronautics, aviation, science, or membership in a
country's military is not required. The goal of the program –
there's a lot of training involved, a lot of learning to do, and an
eight-month, one-way trip ahead – is to establish the beginning of
a permanent human presence on Mars within the next ten years.
ONE
WAY. So whoever finally gets chosen out of the thousands of
applicants for this first manned mission to Mars is not coming back
to Earth. A lot can happen in ten years, and perhaps the most basic
question to ask each prospective applicant, which I'm sure is being
asked again and again in different ways, is: WHY? Why do you want to
leave your life on Earth behind? What do you believe you could do on
Mars that you can't do on Earth?
This
being a devotional, you might think it more apropos to title it “So
You Want To Go To Heaven”. Going to hell or heaven – I put hell
first there because the name of that place appears more than heaven
does in the Bible – should prompt us to ask the same questions. As
Christians, for those of us reading this who are, what do we and what
should we say when we're asked why we want to go to heaven? “Thou
are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power,: for thou
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were
created.”
Perhaps
I'm reading Revelation 4:11 wrong – or at least not studiously –
enough, but the purpose of God creating us from the very beginning of
things (go back to Genesis for that) is for Him to work in us. We
know the phrase “no man is an island” (it's from John Donne's
1624 poem “Meditation XVII” originally, not a Camp Metigoshe
song) as meaning we cannot exist fully detached from others;
likewise, once we're created by God we cannot entirely keep away from
Him, no matter how far we choose to keep away.
I
don't question the methods involved in applying and training and
launching and ultimately settling on Mars. I'm not sure I understand
some of them. But something that the applicants – including you, if
you're still interested – are going to be asked is a larger venue,
but still a basic, question. What are you leaving here on Earth, and
are you willing to pay the price to do it? It gets steeper the more
you train and the more you prepare. Sounds kinda like our lives of
grace, our lives with God's unmerited favor, when we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
Come back next week, we'll learn how you and I have been part of a vast interplanetary conspiracy!
David
P.S.
I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my
address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that
I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!
We
praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please
pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence
and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.
Lord,
we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills
to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who
have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t
either.
Thank
You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad.
Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the
promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a
blessed week! Amen.
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