Tuesday evening, our daughter Jill sent me a text letting me know that the International Space Station would be within viewing distance from our home at 10:58 p.m. I’m a space nut – I have been for many years now. A long time ago, I got interested in the winter sky. I learned all about the constellations and for some reason, I considered the winter sky something like an old friend – reliable, familiar, constant – something that stayed the same year after year.
When I first learned about the night sky, I received a tip that it was much easier to see the stars in the winter sky. That’s because the cold air doesn’t cause that shimmering effect that causes the stars to “dance” and makes it difficult to see them with any clarity. Of course, cold air also makes it easier to see detail in the moon and the planets as well.
When it is warm outside, you see the same effect you are probably familiar with when you drive down a highway in the hot summer sun and see that same “shimmering” down the road on the horizon. The same thing happens in the upper atmosphere on a very warm evening. The stars “dance” and you lose detail across the night sky.
Eventually, I bought a telescope and that opened up a whole new world in the sky. I learned about alt-azimuth mounts (they go up, down, right and left) and equatorial mounts. These mounts have to be calibrated depending where you are in the world and can track objects through the sky if they are set up properly. That takes some getting used to and there is a tremendous amount of math involved in setting them up correctly.
Back when I started, there weren’t phone apps or computers that automatically line up equatorial mounts so you can track stuff across the night sky. But in all honesty, I never got into looking at the Milky Way or the planets as much as I enjoyed the constellations.
The International Space Station (ISS) was first conceived of in the 1980’s and became a reality with the first module launch in 1998. The first crew was sent up in 2000 and research has been a large part of the program since then. There were other modules added and the entire station is expected to remain operational through at least 2030. By the way, it’s the largest manmade orbiting body ever created, by a huge margin.
While all this data is interesting, even entertaining, it pales in comparison to actually seeing the ISS overhead. And that opportunity presented itself earlier this week. In fact, I found an app that makes spotting it easier and tracks when it will be within viewing distance. It’s call “Spot the Station” if you’re interested.
Anyway, Janet and I went out at 10:55 and started to scan the sky. Then, suddenly, there it was. Forty seven degrees above the horizon and moving faster than a jet at night. Of course, it travels at 17,500 miles an hour so it’s moving pretty quickly across the night sky.
We haven’t seen the ISS in years. I couldn’t help but be reminded that the last time I saw it Janet and I were at an outdoor concert near our home. We were sitting with Roger and Arlene, dear friends of ours who were also originally from Chicago. Roger noticed movement across the sky and we all looked overhead – sure enough, the space station was right above us and moving quickly, just like it did last Tuesday night.
Roger is no longer with us; it struck me suddenly as I was watching the night sky. He died of pancreatic cancer – it was the loss of a close, dear friend. We had never discussed religion or faith before – but as the months passed and his health declined, I asked if I could pray for him. He agreed. It was the first time that he could think of that anyone had prayed for him. It ended up being a very special time. And throughout the months I prayed for him a number of times – at the assisted living center where he had been transported, in the hospital during his final days and also in hospice for the one night that he was there. I miss Roger.
In a way, I was surprised how this memory crept up on me as I was watching the ISS above me. Maybe it was the fact that I was looking toward heaven. Our verse for tonight is from the prophet Isaiah. He was one of the major prophets and even foretold the birth of the Messiah. Isaiah reminds us, in Isaiah 40:26, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” How perfect is this!
My encouragement this evening is that God created the earth as a perfect nest for us to live in. It was specially designed by God for our benefit. My prayer is that we will always look up to the heavens and continue to be absolutely amazed by what God has created for us. And that includes the manmade objects above us and those that have flown to the farthest reaches of our known universe. After all, God gave mankind the intellect to dream and create vehicles of exploration that have already resulted in the betterment of all mankind through discoveries that have value here on earth. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…