Passages of Time, and what it says about the Voyage of Life.
- We married on July 3, 1974. We are getting close to 50 Years!
- Three years and two months after our marriage date, Voyager 1 was launched.
- This was the same month Mom and I drove to Alaska from Houston. 5,000 miles took 96 hours behind the wheel, accomplished in four days.
Think about it for a moment. In reverse order…
Since those early days of driving, I’ve guestimated to have sat behind the wheel of my various vehicles for nearly three million miles. In my voyage, I’ve had several speeding tickets, a few minor fender benders, and one major accident totaling my wife’s car. At no time, other than myself, was anyone injured by my traveling.
Voyager 1 has passed the heliosphere and is in interstellar space, having traveled 15.2 billion miles and cruising at 37,000+ MPH. Me? I’m about to run to the store and pick up a few things!
With our wedding milestone approaching, we’ve lived through many of life’s challenges and know how to exist with each and for each other. That’s important as these years grow.
What Gets My Attention?
The number of years of our wedded world is slowly approaching that magic 50th! According to statistics, the average marriage time in the USA is 8.2 years. What!??! We are way past that, with another quarter of a century soon to be started.
The speed of my growing mileage is slowing down. My truck is slowly reaching the 400k marker, not even halfway to where I want to go—1 million with the same vehicle.
We can imagine our world, but we are clueless about the trip Voyager 1 is taking. It takes NASA JPL 22+ hours to send a signal to Voyager 1, and in return, after processing the information received, Voyager 1 takes another 22+ hours to send back a response. It almost sounds like snail mail.
Life is Speeding Up.
Think about Voyager for a moment. It’s operating on equipment designed over half a century ago, traveling faster than you or I ever will, and constantly doing what it was intended to do. Of course, it’s lasted longer than it was designed. It reached our furthest planet in 1989. What was next? Keep going as long as possible. In another 300 years, it will reach the inner edges of the Oort Cloud.
It took Columbus two months to cross the Atlantic Ocean (1492), and a steamship crossed in about eight days in 1819. We regularly fly across in just a few hours. If technology keeps improving? Who knows?
My first computer experience used keypunch cards (1972). It felt speedy, but loading the data or programs sometimes took hours. Today, I transfer data and programs between cloud storage locations more quickly than you can imagine.
It used to take me hours to compose, write, edit, and re-write a book report for school. Now? I compose and publish a blog in less time than it takes to bake cookies. Then? One teacher could read, and today, millions can access it.
Recently, an annual wellness check ran some blood through traditional testing systems. Within 12 hours, the results were delivered to me on the platform where I find all my doctor’s notes, diagnoses, and treatment plans. Since I was looking for them, I saw the results before my doctor as they started showing up by midnight.
My Thought For This Monday
There’s no time for me to slow down and take it easy. Life does not require me to retire; I only need to manage my time and expectations differently.
Imagine a child growing up in this speedy traveling process we call life. To us, it’s fast. To them, it’s just the way things are. Life will speed up exponentially as they age into our years. At some point, it will expand past what we can understand, or there will be a considerable reset as we bounce back to a slower pace.
Einstein said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” He understood that we would reach the point where we’d gone too far and start over.
Is that what we want? No. Will it happen? I pray not in my lifetime, nor at all if the Good Lord has anything to do with it.
If anything, I believe we are speeding through all the struggles the Bible talks about in what we call The End Times. At some point, and we may not recognize it, the signs the Bible talks about will be happening quicker than we realize.
Many study these events to the nth degree and try to pinpoint the timing. In the same chapter where Jesus gives the warning signs, he also says we cannot know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36), but he then describes the days of Noah as a pattern for what the ending times will be like. Just before his ascension, Jesus broadens that view by saying we won’t even know the “times or seasons.” (Acts 1:7)
Then what?
No matter what life looks like, we have a mission.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8 NKJV)
What’s our mission? Be filled with His Spirit and Power, be a witness at home (Jerusalem), in our nation (Judea), to the part of the world we may be uncomfortable with (Samaria), and finally to the end of the earth. The word “end” is ascribed to distance and time equally—as far as we can go and as long as it takes.
No matter the speed,
We must make the best of every opportunity
To be a representative of Christ.
It’s our calling and not our J-O-B.
It’s who we are.
Christ-centered in everything we do.
Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!