MESSAGES TO OUTER SPACE

In 2015, Hyundai undertook the task of helping Stephanie write a letter to her father. What’s the big deal about that? It was written in the sand on Nevada's Delamar Dry Lake, so that Steph’s father, Astronaut Terry Virts, commander of Expedition 43 at the time, could see it from the International Space Station. The image measured 59,808,480.26 square feet.

If you’d like to take a behind-the-scenes look, you can watch it here. Have a tissue handy. 

My brother, David, works for Hyundai and he told me about this recently when we got together for dinner. Along the lines of things that can be seen from space, David also mentioned the ancient drawings, which some people claim could only have been made by aliens and not by the people of that day.

Wikipedia has this to say: The Nazca "drew" several hundred simple, but huge, curvilinear animal and human figures by this technique. In total, the earthwork project is huge and complex: the area encompassing the lines is nearly 450 km2 (170 sq mi), and the largest figures can span nearly 370 m (1,200 ft). Some of the measurements for the figures conclude that the hummingbird is 93 m (310 ft) long, the condor is 134 m (440 ft), the monkey is 93 m (310 ft) by 58 m (190 ft), and the spider is 47 m (150 ft). The extremely dry, windless, and constant climate of the Nazca region has preserved the lines well. This desert is one of the driest on Earth and maintains a temperature near 25 °C year round. The lack of wind has helped keep the lines uncovered and visible.*

The Hyundai team raced against weather and time to get Steph’s message completed before the next time the International Space Station passed by. One of the scores of people involved said, “It was very rewarding to have worked on it for so long, to have involved so many people, everybody just gave it their heart, passion, and in the end to see Stephanie and her father, bringing a smile to their face, is very, very rewarding.”

We have no idea what was in the minds of the people who created the Nasca Lines in southern Peru. We can only assume this work was also a labor of love, created with heart and passion, in the hopes of bringing a smile to the face of those in the heavens for whom the message was intended. But we do know that the fact that the sublayer of the soil was lime, which hardened by their exposing it to the elements, as well as the dryness of the desert area, helped to preserve the images for centuries. (They are proposed to have been created between 500 BCE and 500 CE.)

The Hyuandai message might already have faded away. It wasn’t meant to last for centuries – just long enough for Virts to see it and the commercial about it to be filmed. 

Perhaps, like me, you are reminded of 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 [NIV] For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved--even though only as one escaping through the flames.

James repeatedly calls out the need for our faith to be made evident by our works. [See James 2:17, 20 & 26] 

Ephesians 2:10 [NIV] tell us that we were created for the purpose of doing good works: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

But our good works are not meant to impress our fellow citizens of earth. Matthew 6:1-4 [NKJV] "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.’

Sisters, we are meant to be building something down here that is seen in the heavens – from God’s throne. We are meant to building with all the heart and passion we can muster. 

We are writing our own letters into the earth to our Father in heaven with the works of our lives. Matthew 6:4 tells us that He does see – even if those works come nowhere near the proportions of the Nazca or Hyundai etchings in the earth. Even if it is something as small as a cup of cold water to a thirsty traveler. Mark 9:41 [ESV] For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

All human life is temporary. We race against time and the elements around us – both physical and spiritual – to make a mark on this earth that is visible to our Father in heaven. What message are you writing in the sands of this earth?

I welcome your thoughts, comments and questions. You can write me at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org.

*From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines