Good Monday Morning, Dear Friends,
On an October day in 1957, from a site near the Caspian Sea, a 184-pound of highly sensitive instruments was shuttled into outer space. Its flight was the culmination of an age-old dream of people such as Kepler, Copernicus, and Jules Verne. Sputnik I proved that humanity could overcome the gravitational pull of the earth, and with it the space race had begun. Three years later, Major Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, became the first human to make the voyage into space, and on the afternoon of July 20, 1969, the world received the now-famous message from U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, “The Eagle has landed.” That message came from the lonely moon a quarter of a million miles away in space.
Scarcely a person in the civilized world heard that message without some emotion. For many it raised the possibility of a new world. Perhaps out there somewhere there is a new planet capable of supporting life. To it, humanity might escape and leave behind this cluttered, ravaged, strife-ridden planet with all its complicated problems. That’s a dream that lurks in the back of many minds. If we could find a new world, maybe we could begin again and do a better job.
Across the centuries, countless people have toyed with this solution to their problems. Maybe you will recall the sitcom about Archie and Edith Bunker, Mike, and Gloria, called All in the Family. It was a popular television program which had as its theme song, “Those Were the Days.” Something about that song touched a responsive chord in many lives.
In Luke, chapter 15, Jesus told of a boy who left home one day headed for a far-off country. Out there in the far country, however, he began to look back. Soon he was wishing he could go home. It’s the same old story from the sands of the ancient world to the 21st Century. There are times for most of us when we wish we could be anywhere but where we are.
It’s a real mistake to imagine that happiness is always down the road or over the next hill. The fact is, if we can’t find happiness where we are, we will likely never find it even if we roam the farthest reaches of the universe. This is not to suggest that we shouldn’t look for new frontiers. We owe it to ourselves to find the best possible world. But most of us now have the only world we will ever have. Perhaps the better part of wisdom is to try to make the best of it.
A long time ago a man lived in a remote corner of the world. He never traveled more than 150 miles from home. He commanded no armies, conquered no lands, and amassed no fortunes. He lived only 33 years. Today he is remembered as no king, past or present, will ever be remembered. Why do we remember him? There are many reasons, but at least one of them is because he turned a manger into a palace and a cross into a throne. Jesus’ life is an eternal example of what happens when you decide not to run but to stand tall where you are.
Fulfillment is commensurate to the struggle involved,
