MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
The message this morning is going to be somewhat different from most of mine because we are a nation in mourning. And I feel that it would be helpful for us to consider some of the events & observations of this past week.
ILL. Of course you know what I am talking about. Eight days ago, the north central Texas sky was filled with the sound of a loud, explosive “boom” & the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia. Re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, gliding toward its landing field, flying at 200,700 feet, & traveling at the speed of 12,500 miles per hour, it suddenly disintegrated with the loss of its entire crew.
The accident was sudden, horrific, & a tragic reminder of Apollo 1 in 1967, & of the Challenger disaster that occurred 17 years & 3 days earlier.
At first, no one at NASA realized what had happened. The NY Times reports, “Just minutes before the spaceship was lost, flight specialists in Houston had been communicating with the crew … Nothing appeared wrong. Then Mission Control in Houston said, ‘We did not copy your last.’ ‘Roger, uh—‘ came the reply from the shuttle, & then there was silence, as if the astronaut had been cut off in mid-sentence, & then just static.”
Almost immediately disturbing reports & pictures began coming in as NASA officials frantically tried to re-establish communication with the shuttle. Finally we heard this announcement: “The space shuttle Columbia is gone & 7 brave people are lost.” And a few moments later, as if in confirmation, a stunned nation saw the flag at the Kennedy Space Center being lowered to half-staff.
What we had come to consider routine, now seems anything but. What we were taking for granted, we can do so no longer. What had seemed unthinkable, is now a grim reality, revealing the depth of human tragedy, & the uncertainty of life itself.
ILL. It was to a shocked & sorrowing nation that our President spoke that afternoon.
He said: "My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news & great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.
“On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; & Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men & women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.
“In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, & the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth.
“These astronauts knew the dangers, & they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high & noble purpose in life. Because of their courage & daring & idealism, we will miss them all the more.
“All Americans today are thinking, as well, of the families of these men & women who have been given this sudden shock & grief. You’re not alone. Our entire nation grieves with you. And those you loved will always have the respect & gratitude of this country.
“The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery & the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.
“In the skies today we saw destruction & tragedy. Yet farther than we can see there is comfort & hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, ’Lift your eyes & look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one & calls them each by name. Because of His great power & mighty strength, not one of them is missing’ (Isaiah 40:25-26).
“The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the 7 souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.
“May God bless the grieving families, & may God continue to bless America." --George W. Bush
And folks, that is my prayer today, too. In fact, let’s pray right now. “Lord, as we come to you in prayer this morning our hearts are burdened for the families of those who died in this tragedy. Father of mercies & God of all comfort, may your presence & your people surround them & minister to them in this difficult time.
“Be with us this morning. Build up our faith where it may be weak. Give us a sense of your everlasting presence, & help us to follow your light in the midst of the darkness around us. Use us in your service & may all that we do bring glory unto you. In the name of your Son & our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray…Amen.”
PROP. Now, in the time that we have left this morning, I would like for us to examine God’s Word, & in the light of Columbia’s disaster, consider a few spiritual applications for our lives today.
I. OUR LIVES ARE FRAGILE & PRECIOUS
The first is an obvious one, & that is that we need to remember that our lives are fragile & precious. Accidents such as this remind us just how vulnerable we really are. One moment we could be living out our greatest dream, & the next we could be taken from this world.
ILL. Three members of Columbia’s crew, at least, were known as men of faith & prayer. One was the Commander of the mission, Col. Rick Husband, & another was his second in command, Lt. Col. Michael Anderson. Both of them were active members of the same church in Houston.
Last week Steve Green had a special concert in that church dedicated to the memory of Rick Husband.
You see, Steve Green & his wife were very good friends with Rick & his wife Evelyn. He first met Rick many years ago at one of his concerts. They came up to greet Steve & tell him how much they enjoyed his music. Rick’s wife whispered to Steve that Rick was an astronaut. Steve immediately began asking him questions, & that was the beginning of their friendship.
Three years ago Steve was invited to Rick’s first space shuttle launch & sang at a reception for him prior to take off. He did the same thing this time, too - & then watched Rick go into space. Many of the people at the reception were non-believers, which is not unusual among the science community.
Steve’s latest CD contains a song entitled "God of Wonders" which speaks of a "God beyond our galaxies - You are holy, holy - The heavens declare your majesty - You are holy, holy". This same song was also played as one of the wakeup songs one morning on the space shuttle (They apparently play a different song each morning from NASA).
Rick loved the song, & he & Steve made a video to accompany it, showing him with his wife & 2 young children, followed by scenes of him in space on his prior mission, along with breathtaking photographs of the galaxies our God has created.
In some of the e-mails Steve received from Rick during the Columbia mission Rick was talking about how awesome God’s creation was as he saw it out the space shuttle window.
Rick was a quiet man, but never quiet about sharing his faith in Jesus Christ. Just before the crew boarded the space shuttle, Rick stopped them all & prayed for them. NASA workers commented that in all their years working there, they had never seen a commander pray with his crew.
And just before this last mission, Rick made a recorded devotional video for each of his 2 children for each of the 17 days he would be gone. That’s 34 videos that he took the time to record so that his children would not miss the regular daily devotions that they had with their dad. Can you imagine how much they will treasure them in the years to come?
ILL. Do you remember the quote that I read from the NY Times just a few moments ago about the last communication between Mission Control & Columbia?
The phrases that really burnt their way into my heart as I read them are “Nothing appeared wrong” & “…cut off in mid-sentence”. Just “Roger, uh—” ...& the sentence ends abruptly for all eternity. That suddenly - that unexpectedly.
Listen to these words of King Solomon: “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time & chance happen to them all.
“Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)
SUM. No one knows what tomorrow holds, but we can know Him who holds tomorrow in His hands.
II. JUST AS SUDDENLY, JESUS WILL COME AGAIN
Secondly, just as Columbia entered the earth’s atmosphere & broke up suddenly with a boom that could be heard & felt for thousands of square miles, even so, when Jesus comes again, the Bible says that He will appear suddenly & every ear will hear & every eye shall see Him.
If the breakup of the Columbia could be seen, heard, & felt from California to Louisiana, can you imagine the awesome impact on this world when the Lord Jesus breaks into the earth’s atmosphere?
Someday, & it may be soon, the Lord is going to enter this world with a shout & with a trumpet blast that will vibrate every grave & wake the dead (John 5:28).
The apostle Paul tells us that it will take place “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, & we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52)
III. SO LIVE WITH THIS CONSTANT EXPECTATION
Therefore we should live by faith with this constant expectation. In that night when Jesus was eating the last supper with His apostles, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come back & take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)
We have to be ready. 1 Corinthians 1:7 says we are to “eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.”
As the parable of Jesus teaches, we don’t want to be caught without our wedding garments on. Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42).
ILL. Pres. Bush said, “The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.” Yes, that is our prayer.
CONCL. But the question that I have for you to consider right now is this, “If, instead of the Columbia tragedy, the Lord had returned last Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. (EST) would you have been ready?” Had it been the shout & trumpet blast of the archangel instead of the Columbia’s breakup, would you have been ready?
