IT'S TOO SOON TO QUIT!

IT’S TOO SOON TO QUIT!

 1972 was a very memorable year.  Fifty years ago marked the occasions of my oldest child’s birth, my graduation from Yale, and NASA’s launch of an exploratory space probe named Pioneer 10.  The space craft’s mission was to reach Jupiter, to photograph that planet and its moons, and to beam data to earth about Jupiter’s magnetic field, radiation belts and atmosphere.  Scientists regarded this as a very bold plan, for up to that time no earth vessel had reached beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt might destroy the satellite before it reached its target.

 But Pioneer 10 accomplished its given mission and much more.  Swinging past the giant planet in November of 1973, Jupiter’s immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a high rate of speed toward the very edge of the solar system.  At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn.  At two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at three billion miles, and Pluto at four billion miles.  By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles away from the sun.

 Despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth.  Perhaps most remarkable was the fact that those signals emanated from a modest 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours for its signals to reach Earth.

 Scientists nicknamed it ‘The Little Satellite That Could’ because it simply was not qualified to do what was done.  Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a projected life of three years, but it kept going and going.  Its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible. 

 And so it is when we offer ourselves in the service of our Lord.  God can work even through those of us with ‘8-watt abilities.’  However, God cannot work through anyone who quits.  Hang in there!

 Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!