A life well-spent is a good investment and will bear fruit for a long time.
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." Proverbs 11:29
I'm a space nut. I love looking at pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope. I love watching shows about space exploration. And I was a huge fan of the space shuttle mission. I cried when Challenger exploded as it took off. I watched "The Right Stuff" about 100 times and still count "Space Cowboys" as one of my favorite movies of all time. So naturally, any story that is space related is something I'm interested in. Especially when it illustrates a theological point.
The Space Shuttle as it flies into orbit is pushed by two booster rockets on each side. These booster rockets are actually made in Utah. A long way away from Cape Canaveral in Florida. In order to get them from Utah to Florida, they have to be shipped by railroad car. When the engineers started to look at the logistics of shipping such a delicate piece of equipment all those thousands of miles they discovered something very important. The base dimension of the railroad tracks are 4 feet, 8 and a half inches wide. Now that doesn't mean they have to be 4 feet, 8 and a half inches wide themselves, but that was the base dimension for the width of the tracks. They traveled the length of the tracks to find the width of the tunnels and height of the overpasses.
But why that particular width the engineers asked. It's not a standard width by any means. Why not four feet wide? Or maybe five? Why four feet, eight and a half inches?
Back at the start of the industrial revolution in America when railways were just starting, they relied a lot on the British who had already begun a massive railway system. When the British laid the tracks, they built a steam engine, but the cars that it pulled were normal, everyday horse-drawn carts that they converted to run on the tracks.
The standard wheel base of a horse drawn cart in England was four feet, eight and a half inches wide. That's because the roads throughout Europe was built with the same dimensions.
That particular width can be traced back to the Roman Empire. When a Caesar wanted to determine what was the best width to make the roads of the Roman Empire, he sponsored a study. After a lot of figuring and discussion, the ancient Roman engineers came back and said that the most efficient way to get around was with a cart being pulled by two horses.
When you put a tape measure across the backsides of two horses hitched to a cart, it measures four feet, eight and a half inches.
A tradition that was started thousand of years ago was a determining factor in mankind's greatest achievement of space exploration.
Which just shows you the power of tradition in our lives. If we start a tradition of reading our Bible each day to our children or grandchildren then they will grow up doing the same thing and generations from now, our children will know about the redemptive power of God because of our traditions.
If we start a tradition of praying before meals and for each other, then our children and grandchildren will know the power of prayer. If we start a tradition of weekly worship then generations from now will know the love of a fellowship.
Traditions are not what we make of them. Tradition is what our grandchildren make of them. Our descendants will take their cue from the things and traditions we set today. And when they reach for the stars, it's our prayer that a tradition of love will be with them.
PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. EMAIL: [email protected]. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.
Religion on 03/29/2017