The new and the former generation of astronauts - all of them with "the right stuff" - it began with Mercury, then Gemini and then Apollo program and it continues to this day. Astronauts fly routinely - if you can call it that - into space these days, but when initial trials commenced to launch a man into orbit, beyond the atmosphere of the planet, it was anything but routine. It began with a Russian cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin who fired from a Soviet launch pad into space well over a year before I was born:
"On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes."
America was not about to be outdone by the Soviet Union and so 'the space race' commenced! But before an American made space capsule could find itself in the celestial domain, a certain kind of man had to be found, and made into something that never existed before: an astronaut, a 'star trekker', a man with 'the right stuff'.
The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word.
I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 6:1-6
After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word.
I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 5:44-47
44 How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Pain. It's something we all try to avoid; vast quantities of pharmaceuticals are massed produced so that we can avoid it, in all of it's terrible and tiresome shades
C.S. Lewis did an amazing job dealing with the issue of pain in the world with his first published work, The PROBLEM of PAIN in which he deals with the issue of suffering, and if GOD is All-powerful and good, then why is there suffering in this world?
We dealt with the problem of evil in a TTUF article entitled EVIL - This Strange Predicament.
Human beings seem to know intuitively that pain is not merely undesirable but is on some fundamental level, plain wrong; that it's something that shouldn't exist (but does, thus the high degree of frustration, doubt and even anger that we feel that results from this effrontery).
The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word.
I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 5:40-43
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honour from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons, and I recall when one character wanted to pull a fast one on another, they would take a detour sign that was meant to keep people off a closed road that ended abruptly at a cliff face and turn it away from the safe road towards this danger.
Satan does this same thing; the LORD intends for us to walk the "old paths" (JERE 6:16) - the safe paths of blessing and safety by following Him and His truth, wisdom and grace, but the devil will do all he can to detour us away from these pathways of peace and life (PSALM 16:11), these roads of righteousness; to lead us away from them and into peril and ruin instead.
And he is very subtle about his methods, using all of his wiles and craftiness to dissuade us from the LORD and His ways and bring us to danger and destruction. So what are some of these detours?
The following is a series of short exhortations, brief commentary and writings to convey thoughtful meditation on God's Word.
I have chosen the Gospel of John as the subject. I pray that these will be a blessing and an edification for the saints.
JOHN 5:38-39
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. 39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
