It was nearly 40 years ago, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday. The space shuttle Challenger had just lifted off and I was listening to the launch as I headed to work. And over the radio, the stunned announcer said that it looked like the shuttle had blown up just over a minute into its flight. What I and the rest of the nation didn’t know was that Bob Ebeling and four other engineers at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol had tried to stop the launch. Their managers and NASA overruled them. That night, he told his wife, Darlene, "It's going to blow up."
The next day Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, Ebeling and his colleagues sat stunned in a conference room at Thiokol's headquarters outside Brigham City, Utah. They watched the spacecraft explode on a giant television screen and they knew exactly what had happened. They knew the danger, they warned those who could stop the launch…and they didn’t. And the spacecraft and crew were lost. The NASA officials in charge wouldn’t listen because they chose to believe that it could never happen. But it did. I’ve thought about this in relation to we humans who are making our journey on this planet. The Bible says that there is danger out there for every one of us making this earthly passage. The bad news is that none of us are perfect…because we have all been corrupted by the sin of this world and it has prevented each one of us from ever having the good and personal relationship with God that we were designed to have. The good news is that God has a plan to take care of that sin and through his son Jesus Christ, that sin was paid for…all we need to do is accept his forgiveness for free! The reality is that from the beginning we are warned in the Bible that we need to take care of this fault, our sin, if we are going to be reconnected with God and spend eternity with him. If we don’t then we won’t ever have that opportunity again to do so after this life ends. The warning is clear and like those NASA officials some 40 years ago, we have the choice to listen and act or ignore and accept the consequences. Don’t make the same mistake they made resulting in death and destruction. Go with what God and his “engineers” tell us. Our history is not set in stone…it is up to us to choose how our story will end. Let it end with you and God friends together for all eternity. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Ezekiel 33:7-9 NLT “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. (8) If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. (9) But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ
The next day Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, Ebeling and his colleagues sat stunned in a conference room at Thiokol's headquarters outside Brigham City, Utah. They watched the spacecraft explode on a giant television screen and they knew exactly what had happened. They knew the danger, they warned those who could stop the launch…and they didn’t. And the spacecraft and crew were lost. The NASA officials in charge wouldn’t listen because they chose to believe that it could never happen. But it did. I’ve thought about this in relation to we humans who are making our journey on this planet. The Bible says that there is danger out there for every one of us making this earthly passage. The bad news is that none of us are perfect…because we have all been corrupted by the sin of this world and it has prevented each one of us from ever having the good and personal relationship with God that we were designed to have. The good news is that God has a plan to take care of that sin and through his son Jesus Christ, that sin was paid for…all we need to do is accept his forgiveness for free! The reality is that from the beginning we are warned in the Bible that we need to take care of this fault, our sin, if we are going to be reconnected with God and spend eternity with him. If we don’t then we won’t ever have that opportunity again to do so after this life ends. The warning is clear and like those NASA officials some 40 years ago, we have the choice to listen and act or ignore and accept the consequences. Don’t make the same mistake they made resulting in death and destruction. Go with what God and his “engineers” tell us. Our history is not set in stone…it is up to us to choose how our story will end. Let it end with you and God friends together for all eternity. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Ezekiel 33:7-9 NLT “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. (8) If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. (9) But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ
Posted in Daily Devotionals