January 28, 1986

I remember the day very clearly although it was 29 years ago.  I was at work.  It was an ordinary day with ordinary tasks.  Then I heard rumblings, everyone was convening in the center hall of our small office.  What happened?  I really couldn’t understand the comments.  ‘It disintegrated.’  ‘It exploded.’  ‘It blew up.’  Why was everyone looking so worried?  Colleagues who never gave a care about anything now looked totally in shock – mouths open in disbelief, hands clasped as if in prayer, while others ran to the conference area to turn on the TV.  That morning, the Challenger, the space shuttle that had orbited in space nine times before, had launched into space for the tenth time.  What was interesting about this mission was that, to show the world the normalcy of space travel, a teacher would join the astronauts in space.  Christa McAuliffe, a 37 year- old teacher, had been selected among 11,000 candidates to join the Challenger team to perform experiments and teach lessons from space.  It was the mission of a lifetime for a teacher from New Hampshire. It was a day of true excitement and wonderful challenges for the entire crew.  Seventy-three seconds after launch and before the astonished eyes of the world, the Challenger disintegrated in space killing the seven crew members aboard.  There is some debate as to whether any of the astronauts survived the blast; and if so, how few seconds they would have lived after that point.  But the result is just the same.  Seven precious people died that day.  Did any of them have any idea that this most horrible tragedy would happen?  Of course they didn’t.  Did they know there was a risk?  Yes, there is always a risk, however small, that something could happen. 

As Christians many times we too take risks.  We put our eternal lives at risk every single day when we choose NOT to submit our own self to God.  When we continue to do our will and not His; when we are willfully disobedient, we are taking a risk.  We don’t know how long we have on this earth; nor do we know if we’ll have time to make a change, but we continue as is.  And what about the lives of those we come in contact with?  We forget the great sacrifice Jesus made for others’ lives when we choose NOT to tell them about Jesus.  In the worst case, we are lazy and assume someone else will do the job.  The other side of the coin may be that we are fearful, embarrassed or perhaps ashamed that we might not know how to do this properly.  As children of our dear God, how long will we continue to live in this manner? God’s word tells us that God’s sons are those who live in the Spirit; and if we live in the flesh, we shall die.  But if we live in the Spirit we shall live. 

Posthumously, Christa was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.  It is a great privilege and I’m sure her family accepted it sadly but proudly.  But I can tell you that I don’t want post anything.  There is nothing for us to do after we’re gone.  There is no post for the children of God.  We don’t have guarantees about tomorrow.  We don’t even know about later.  There is only now.  I thank God today for my now and I pray that He help me live in the Spirit and use me for His glory.