Thursday, September 23, 2004
Alegria
He is Spain’s first astronaut to “walk” into outer space, and his name is Miguel López Alegría. He joined the NASA program in the early 1990’s and he completed his first flight into space in 1995. A few years ago, he took a second trip on which he participated in an Extra Vehicular Activity (translation: “a walk in space.”) He tells how it felt, what it was like:
“I was very surprised at how comfortable and at ease I felt when I walked out the door for the first time. I had had the benefit of the commentaries from the other two crew members who had walked a couple of days before me. So I wasn’t anxious at doing it, just totally amazed at the view. It was so much better than the description we’d been given. From inside the shuttle you can see the Earth but your view is always limited by the windows. When you are outside the only limitation is the space plate of the helmet and even with that the view is really breathtaking.” (from The Broadsheet, December 2000)
As we spin on this vehicle called Planet Earth, I sometimes wonder what heaven will be like. I wonder what it will be like when we go on our Extra Vehicular Activity, and step into eternity for the first time. We tend to think of heaven as a place where we will be completely blown away by everything that we see, but I wonder if it won’t feel more “comfortable”, like this is the place we were meant to be, more normal and natural. Still, I bet we’ll find heaven to be “so much better than the description [we’ve] been given,” simply because we’ll have a better view of the Man we were meant to know: Jesus Christ. We’ll be off of this planet, which obscures our view, and we’ll be able to see Him face to face with not even so much as a helmet to obstruct our view. And isn’t it good to know that, like Miguel, we have the benefit of hearing about “the great unknown” from One who has “been there” before us: Jesus Christ. He tells us that heaven is a place where a home is being prepared for us. Heaven is home. Therefore, we need not be anxious about going to heaven. In fact, I bet our first response will be one of happiness and joy. In Spanish, I believe the word for that is “alegría.”
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.”
II Corinthians 13:12a
“I was very surprised at how comfortable and at ease I felt when I walked out the door for the first time. I had had the benefit of the commentaries from the other two crew members who had walked a couple of days before me. So I wasn’t anxious at doing it, just totally amazed at the view. It was so much better than the description we’d been given. From inside the shuttle you can see the Earth but your view is always limited by the windows. When you are outside the only limitation is the space plate of the helmet and even with that the view is really breathtaking.” (from The Broadsheet, December 2000)
As we spin on this vehicle called Planet Earth, I sometimes wonder what heaven will be like. I wonder what it will be like when we go on our Extra Vehicular Activity, and step into eternity for the first time. We tend to think of heaven as a place where we will be completely blown away by everything that we see, but I wonder if it won’t feel more “comfortable”, like this is the place we were meant to be, more normal and natural. Still, I bet we’ll find heaven to be “so much better than the description [we’ve] been given,” simply because we’ll have a better view of the Man we were meant to know: Jesus Christ. We’ll be off of this planet, which obscures our view, and we’ll be able to see Him face to face with not even so much as a helmet to obstruct our view. And isn’t it good to know that, like Miguel, we have the benefit of hearing about “the great unknown” from One who has “been there” before us: Jesus Christ. He tells us that heaven is a place where a home is being prepared for us. Heaven is home. Therefore, we need not be anxious about going to heaven. In fact, I bet our first response will be one of happiness and joy. In Spanish, I believe the word for that is “alegría.”
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.”
II Corinthians 13:12a
Comments:
Post a Comment
