If you’ve ever done much travelling, you know that one of the worst things is to break down far from home. You can’t conveniently call someone to get you and the distance is too far to tow the vehicle home. The only thing you can do is find a mechanic, hope they can get the parts and get you back on the road without much delay.
But what do you do when you are nearly 250,000 miles from home and you break down?
To put that number into perspective, the distance around the equator is 24,901.461 miles. You would have to travel that distance over 10 times to make it 250,000 miles. To reach that distance, you must go UP. And that’s what the crew of Apollo 13 was trying to do on a mission that began on April 11, 1970. On April 13th at just 158 miles from the moon’s surface, Commander James Lovell, Jr. said those infamous words nobody wanted to hear: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Oxygen tank 2 had blown, disabling the lights, electricity, oxygen, and water aboard their flight.
While Lovell and his crewmates, Command Module Pilot John Swigert, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise, Jr. settled themselves into the cramped lunar module with temperatures near freezing, ground crews scrambled to find an answer to getting the men back to earth safely. April 17, 1970 saw Americans glued to their televisions as Apollo 13 had finally made it home, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Haise was the worse for wear, having contracted the flu in the frigid conditions.
What caused this oxygen tank to blow? History.com gives the assessment: “In order to power the fuel cells that provided most of the electricity used during the flight, the Apollo spacecraft carried two tanks of liquid hydrogen and two tanks of liquid oxygen. NASA’s subsequent investigation revealed that the No. 2 oxygen tank onboard Apollo 13 had been accidentally dropped during maintenance before the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, causing slight internal damage that didn’t show up in later inspections.
“During testing in March 1970, the reinstalled tank failed to properly empty itself of oxygen. The testing team decided to solve this problem by heating the tank overnight to force the liquid oxygen to burn off. But the surge of power from the high-voltage DC system on the ground caused the automatic shut-off switches on the tank’s heater to fail, and the temperature spiked to more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Though there was no external indication of the problem, the heat apparently damaged the insulation on the wires inside the tank—effectively turning the tank into a bomb waiting to explode.”1
When warning signs are missed, the end results are catastrophic. That was true for Apollo 13. And it’s true in our everyday life. We could apply that to our health and talk about the warning signs of deeper physical problems. But let’s consider something far more important: the spiritual warning signs.
Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” Prudent people pay attention to the warning signs that are given. Fools don’t.
2 Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” While he was preaching, he was also constructing something that could have easily been seen from the distance. Genesis 6:13-17 records, “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (14) Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (15) And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. (16) A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (17) And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”
We have to assume that Noah preached and hammered, preached and sawed, preached and built. Surely there were those who said, “Hey, Noah, watcha doing?” I’m sure Noah explained but the people missed the incredibly OBVIOUS warning that was being built and the message being preached.
Today, people are just like the Pharisees of Matthew 16. It says in verses 1-4, “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. (2) He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. (3) And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (4) A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.” People are asking for signs while ignoring what is staring them right in the face!
God has placed His warnings all around us. Be a prudent person and don’t miss them! The end results are eternally catastrophic.
1https://www.history.com/news/apollo-13-what-went-wrong
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