Serve by Design

On Saturday, October 14, 2023, 10:36 am, a spectacular event occurred that could only be observed in parts of the western United States, as well as Central and South America. Weeks in advance of the annular solar eclipse, I was reading and hearing about it on the news. I knew that we were going to be visiting our family during this exact time. I just didn’t realize, at the time of first hearing about this, just how unique it all would be! We quite literally were in the “right place at the right time!” The zenith point for optimal viewing of this epic eclipse was Albuquerque, New Mexico! Looking upward with our "stylish" eclipse glasses! We took it all in so easily as we stood in our daughter’s kitchen in the suburb of nearby Rio Rancho and looked out over the Sandia Mountains to the east. It was like we were standing in a private celestial theater. What made this solar eclipse so unusual was that it happened when the moon orbited at its farthest point from earth. As it passed...

It has been an exciting month for space enthusiasts! (Moi included!). The Artemis 1 unmanned moon mission concluded on Sunday, December 11 with re-entry of the Orion space capsule and its splashdown and recovery after more than three-weeks. The mission, to and from, including a wide-swooping loop around the moon after 1.4 million miles, was epic. The images taken by the spacecraft cameras have been breathtaking and vivid! Borrowing an exclamation from the Star Trek television series, this mission into deep space (like the fictional Starship Enterprise) promises to take us in the future to distances beyond the moon “where no man has gone before!” "When I consider Your heavens...the moon and the stars... What is man that You are mindful  of him... that You visit him?" (Ps. 8:3-4). (Photo Credit: NASA) The 25,000-mph re-entry into earth’s atmosphere exposed Orion’s newly advanced heatshield to temperatures of more than 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. This shield had never been tested ...