NASA’s Artemis II splashed down recently after a successful mission around the far side of the moon. Four astronauts traveled more than 252,000 miles from earth. That is four thousand miles deeper into space than anyone has ever gone!
The total distance they traveled was close to 700,000 miles. They did that in just over ten days. You’ve gotta break the speed limit to go 700,000 miles in ten days! They were going 25 thousand miles per hour when they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.
The pilot of Artemis II was a man named Victor Glover. He is very open about his faith in Christ. He has a strong Christian witness. He also has a unique perspective. He has seen things very few people will ever see. We can marvel at the images they sent back to Earth, but he has seen it with his own eyes.
When Victor Glover looks at the vastness and beauty of the universe he sees the handiwork of God. He sees what Scripture describes in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (NIV). Glover has the eyes to see the fingerprints of God in the physical world.
Jesus urges us to see the light of God’s truth not just in the physical world around us, but to let God’s spiritual light illuminate our hearts. “Your eye,” he says, “is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light” (Luke 11:34, CSB).
Physical light illustrates important properties of spiritual light. When the sun is up, a healthy physical eye sees clearly so we can move about with confidence. But if our eyesight is bad, the sun is little help. If our eyesight is bad, we are not allowed to have a driver’s license unless we have some kind of correction for our vision, glasses or contact lenses.
If my spiritual eyes are blurry, then I cannot clearly see God’s light: Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. Without the light of Jesus, I will easily get off the pathway that God has laid out. When I do, I face great danger. ‘Driving’ a life without clear spiritual vision is hazardous.
Many people are more comfortable with the spiritual darkness of this world than the light of Jesus. They try to remain in spiritual slumber. When the light comes, they are irritated by it. Jesus irritated a lot of people. They were comfortable with their blurred vision of the world and of reality and of the truth.
On Easter Sunday, Victor Glover was on the Artemis II somewhere between Earth and the Moon. He was interviewed by CBS news. The astronaut talked about how amazing it is to see our Earth from space and spoke about how this Earth was created to give us a place in the universe.
Glover continued, saying that we should remember where we are, who we are.
Being in the vastness of space inspired Victor to think about the big questions in life, our place in the universe, our true identity, our purpose.
The pilot of Artemis II said that while astronauts and scientists are unlocking the mysteries of the universe, we should remember an important mystery on earth: love. Glover noted Jesus’ important saying about love. When questioned about the greatest commandment, Jesus said it is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, Jesus insisted that we must also love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Jesus is the light of the world. When we follow him, we do not walk in darkness. Instead, we have the light of life.
God give us the eyes to see and the heart to follow the light of Jesus,
Brother Richard Foster
brotherrichardsblog.com 