WRITTEN IN OUR HEARTS July 31, 2020

A couple of days ago, I submitted my name for NASA’s Perseverance’s return mission scheduled in July 2026 for the planet Mars.  If I remember correctly, a few years ago, I also submitted my name to Perseverance’s mission that took flight last Thursday.  At that time, Curiosity was being launched, which did a few years of exploration in Mars, and just when it was about to go over some hill or mountain, it conked out.  Thankfully, it had already relayed significant amounts of observations and data about the red planet to NASA headquarters here on earth.  And true to our wandering spirit, Perseverance’s mission this year had Filipinos being number 23 of countries with the most number of names submitted, while on the return mission 6 years hence, our country is at number 1, with more than 1.5 million names submitted (at least one, mine I believe, of which was technically a re-submission)

 

What is it about space exploration that intrigues the human being so?  Every time I receive my newsletter subscription through email from National Geographic, and even NASA’s Earth Observatory, particularly on the updates about Curiosity’s work, satellite observations of the weather condition here on earth, and many other astronomical activities, I cannot help but like a child, feel so excited and happy. 

 

I think I share King David’s sentiments and wonder when he penned the eighth chapter of Psalms, particularly verse 3, when he said, “When, I consider the heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained,” far from me getting lost in the vastness of the universe, I feel all the more grateful that there is a GOD who created all these things, and who created me too and planned for my life, including my wonder and curiosity at everything He has created, both within the planet I call home for now, and everything that lies beyond.  Far from me falling silent because of my smallness in the greater scheme of all other created beings, like King David, my heart is bursting to declare, as he said in the first verse of the nineteenth chapter of Psalms, “The heavens declare the glory of GOD, the skies show His handiwork.”

 

And so with deeper appreciation of Who we are faced against, we understand more deeply the Word we receive in the 8^th chapter of the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews, how the GOD who created and ruled over all the universe with His perfect and constant laws, is the same GOD who is our Savior and mediator between the sinful, fallible us and Him who deserves our praise, worship and service.  We can relate better that the things His people have done to obey His instructions on how to serve Him here on earth, and all the work that they do to fulfill His will, are actually mirrors or previews of how it will be when He comes again to restore the broken world where we are living now. 

 

With greater conviction too, we open our hearts and allow Him to write His laws, His promises, His covenant and contract with us in our hearts, that we might believe and have confidence that He will fulfill all these things, even to hearing our prayers, meeting our needs, healing our diseases, keeping us safe, and even in difficult situations, give us deliverance; even in brokenness, give us restoration; and even in chaos, will grant us His peace.  May everything that we see, everything that we envision, and all the things that make us wonder, cause us to let His covenant be imprinted in our hearts, never to be erased even through all sufferings and tribulations, every day and eternally give us hope, courage, and more faith.