When NASA sent the little Ingenuity helicopter to Mars, the plan was modest. It was a test, designed to make up to five experimental flights over 30 days. Nobody knew whether a helicopter could even fly in the thin Martian air. Ingenuity became the first aircraft to fly on another world. Then it just kept going. It operated for almost three years, made 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned. On January 18, 2024, during its 72nd flight, it had a rough landing that damaged its rotor blades, and the mission came to an end. A small machine meant for a short test did far more than anyone dreamed. Never despise small beginnings when God is in them.
In 2022 NASA did something no one had done before. It crashed a spacecraft called DART into a small asteroid named Dimorphos on purpose, to see if people could change an asteroid’s path if one ever threatened Earth. The impact came on September 26. Before the test, NASA said success would mean changing the asteroid’s orbit by at least 73 seconds. When astronomers measured, the orbit had changed by 32 minutes, shrinking it from 11 hours 55 minutes to 11 hours 23 minutes. DART beat the goal by more than 25 times. One small push, aimed carefully, changed the course of something huge. Never underestimate a single faithful act aimed in the right direction. God can use it to turn a whole life around.
The wood frog of the far north survives winter in a remarkable way. It freezes. Ice forms around its organs and between its skin and muscle. Its eyes turn white. Meanwhile its liver floods every cell with glucose, a sugary solution that keeps the inside of the cells from freezing. For the whole winter there is no muscle movement, no heartbeat, and no breathing. It looks like a little frog carved out of ice. Yet it is alive. When spring comes, it thaws from the inside out. First the heart starts beating. Then the brain wakes up. Finally the legs move. God’s renewal in us works the same way. He starts with the heart.
Rocky Bleier finished his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968, then was drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam. After only three months his platoon was ambushed in a rice paddy. A bullet hit his left thigh, and a grenade sent shrapnel through his right leg, taking part of his foot. Doctors said he would never play football again. In the hospital ward, a young triple amputee stopped at every bed each day to encourage the others. Bleier thought, if he could do that, what about me? He decided right there he would walk again. He went on to win four Super Bowls with the Steelers. One encourager can change a man’s whole direction.
