Mission to Mars Proves Truth of Life

Last night, I watched another great episode of NOVA on PBS with the family (before we played Candyland). The show featured the technical and sometimes even emotional journey of a group of NASA scientists and engineers who designed the MARS Rover Vehicles, "Spirit" and "Opportunity," and their entry mechanisms. I was immediately hooked because anything remotely to do with NASA intrigues me as I was once a NASA Space Grant intern and Space Lab Manager at the University of Arizona.

I marveled at how much thought, hard work and even stress went into the design, engineering and scientific process for making these missions a success. It was high drama and even brought tears to the eyes of some of these grown scientists and engineers, so proud and at times frustrated with their beloved technical creations.

Then suddenly this overwhelming truth flooded my person as I watched the rocket carrying "Spirit" preparing for its launch. Here is that truth:

Everything that was up there in that capsule was put their by years of design and purpose. Everything from the launch window time-frame, which comes every two years, to the precisely rigged and tested parachute, to the sturdy airbags for its controlled crash, to the tiniest of "pyros" that popped open the launder, and to the unfolding mechanism of the rovers had to work exactly as designed in order for the mission to be a success. Every piece, big or small had to come together almost perfectly in order for everything to work. Every last one of them were products of intelligent design, made for a purpose: to explore the possibility of life on Mars, past or present.

No person in their right mind and with any degree of intelligence would come across one of these Mars rovers years from now, frozen in place on the lifeless planet, and say that these wonderfully made creations of human intelligence were accidents and somehow found their way to this desolate planet. I doubt that such a person would say "I hypothesize that an asteroid hit the earth or a volcanic eruption on earth dislodged this beautiful craft and it landed here on Mars by complete accident and chance."

What credit would this be to the years of design and engineering it took to create these machines? Would it not be a crime to think nothing of the hard work, passion, and even love it took to build and send these machines exactly to their place of destination? Would there not be a personal story behind their making?

In spite of all their complication, these machines can not even measure up to the complication of a single-celled bacterium---a bacterium that was designed to live, operate, and, even more amazing, reproduce in the most austere environments known to life.

Now think about yourself for a moment. As your eyes scan over this line, think about the millions of cellular and sub-cellular interactions that have to work just right and come together precisely and accurately for you to read, breathe and live for this moment. You are much better off than that bacterium and those rovers on Mars. Unlike them: you know that you exist; you want to have a purpose for living outside of just existing; you know what love is or may want to know what it is; you want to think that there is meaning to life, and you want to know, like those NASA scientists and engineers, whether there is life outside of human existence.

The truth is, you are not an accident. You and everything you know about life in the Universe is not the product of random chance. Furthermore, you are not even reading this by accident. Everything had to work and come together exactly as God designed for you to be alive and reading this. You can believe all you want that you are an accident, the product of natural selection and chance, but it will not change the fact that you are masterpiece of God's intelligence, that you have a purpose, and that God is attempting to communicate with you. He'll use any way to reach you, even faster than the speed of light. He'll use anything to reach you, even a blog. He'll use anyone to reach you, even another blogger. If you just let Him. These words are flowing through human hands, but they are not the thoughts of the human mind. They are the thoughts from the heart of a Creator, who is proud of you, is passionate about you, and who has given you the power of choice (not even bacteria, much less human-made machines, have what we know as choice).

You have the choice to believe that He exists. You have the choice to believe in His love. You have the choice to believe in His purposes for your life. You have the choice to seek a Higher life-form outside of your physically-confining environment. Just for a moment in your life, for once in your life, BELIEVE and KNOW that God loves you! Humans would travel the Universe if they could to find life when a very real universe is just on the other side of their hearts. The only distance between the two is belief!

I could tell you over and over that the earth is not flat and that gravity exists. But it's entirely your choice to believe these truths. These truths are not abstract. Either the earth is flat or it's not. Either gravity exists or it doesn't. Whether you believe these truths or not does not change the fact that they are true. You can believe all you want that God does not exist, much less that He loves you or has a purpose for your life. We'll respectfully disagree on this point and you're free to go on not believing. But it doesn't change the truth that He does exist, that He made you, and that He has a purpose for your life. You are a shining example of His intelligence. As He said Himself "You are fearfully and wonderfully made!"

For just a moment in your life, for once in your life, acknowledge Him. Take wonder at what He has done. Ask Him to show you His love. Ask Him to show you the purpose for your life. I promise you that you don't have to go to another planet to seek out life or the origins of life here on earth. Just go to the one who gave you life. He has been attempting to communicate this message to you for a very long time, ever since you left the innocence of childhood and assumed the right to choose for yourself. Choose Him. Give God a chance. Give him one minute of breath and he'll change your whole life.

In your own words, acknowledge that there is distance between you and Him. This distance has put you millions of miles away from your creator (just like those rovers on Mars). He put you on earth by design and for a purpose. He enabled your complex parts to come together and planned a great future for you while you were still in your mother's womb. He did all this to have a relationship with you, to know you and for you to know Him. His name is "Father God." The one who has been tugging at your heart is His "Spirit." The one who bridges the distance, between you and Father God is named "Jesus." He is the one that wants to take your hand and show you the only way to God. He is the one sent from the Father to bring you back home and re-unite you with your creator. In your own words, believe that Jesus can do this. In your own words, believe that He loves you. Accept Him today, at this moment, for once in your life accept the greatest truth of life.

May God light the fire in you with His Spirit!
Danny Morales,
dannyandmartha@lighthefire.com

P.S. thank you Doc Nos for your encouraging blog ;-)