In
1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon
Jaroff in Time, the satellite's
primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and
beam data to Earth about Jupiter's magnetic field, radiation belts and
atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth
satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would
destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10
accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in
November of 1973, Jupiter's immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate
of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the
sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurled past
Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles, and on it went. By 1997,
twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles
from the sun.
And
despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals
to scientists on Earth. "Perhaps most remarkable is that those signals
come from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a night
light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth," writes Jaroff. The
little satellite that could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers
designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going
and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished
more than anyone thought possible.
So
it is when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God can and does work through
someone with 8-watt abilities and they accomplish far more than they ever
thought possible. Let's continue to Advance the Gospel through Ministry and
Service and watch what God does through our availaility!
