How you ever consider how the space shuttle flew? It was a fascinating spacecraft. The flight deck alone was packed with more than 2000 separate monitors and digital displays. Twisting and turning throughout the sophisticated bird were 200 miles of fiber optic and copper wires. Even with all the unnecessary weight stripped away the shuttle mated to its boosters and fully fueled weighed 4.5 million pounds at liftoff. However, less than 8 minutes into the flight, all 500,000 gallons of rocket fuel was burned and the shuttle was streaking through space at 17,500 miles per hour. It was a mindboggling human achievement when you think about it.



While thousands of spectators flocked to see each shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Center there was another phenomenon that was generally forgotten. It has been around since the world began but man still cannot fully understand its complexity and sophistication. It is the Sun.



According to NASA scientists, the core temperature of the Sun is equal to “100 billion tons of TNT exploding every second.” In the 8 minutes it takes that radiation to travel 92 million miles to the earth, the temperature of this light will fall to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the earth’s protective atmosphere, that heat will feel like 98 degrees on a hottest of summer days in Gainesville. The sun is just right distance from our earth to support life. If it was a little closer, the earth would be too hot. If it was a little farther away, the earth would be frozen.



Do you think the Sun just happened by chance? No one believed the shuttle just evolved over time. Yet, even with some of the brightest NASA minds constantly fine tuning every minute detail, the shuttle is now considered too old to fly. But not so with the Sun, it remains perfect!



This is one of many examples that prove to us that design must precede order. If we can understand even the most rudiment elements of physics and the physical world around us, we should be able to see the overwhelming evidence of a Creator.



Consider the Creator’s revelation through His Word. The Bible is the only book ever written in which a definitive explanation of creation is given. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). All five elements of our known world are revealed in the first sentence of the Bible. There is time, (“In the beginning”), force (“God”), action (“created”), space (“heavens”) and matter (“and the earth”). The apostle John reemphasized the creation when he said, "Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:3).



However, God’s finest masterpiece is not what He did with matter, space and time. It is the new life He offered sinners through His Son. He gave His only Son, Jesus, as the appeasement for our sins (Romans 8:24-25).



Through this grace we can receive the resurrection of our souls (Ephesians 2:8-10; Romans 6:4-6). The Lord takes the lost, abused, selfish, forgotten soul and molds it like clay into a fine work of art. It is His ultimate creation. And He does more than just recreate life, He offers eternal life to those who will put their obedient faith in Him (John 14:15).



Think about it. We can be freed from sin by allowing the Creator to do what He does best. If we will confess Him, repent of our sins and give ourselves to baptism into Jesus Christ all of our transgressions will be washed away (Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:36-38). This is God’s work (Colossians 2:12). He uses the blood of His Son to cleanse us and then He clothes us with white robes of righteousness (Revelation 7:14). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (1 Corinthians 5:17). Now, that is truly amazing!



A shuttle launch was truly a sight to behold. But compared to God’s gracious plan of salvation through His Son, its fascination was like watching a paper airplane.