GPS and theWisemen

 

[1]

Matthew 2:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible

⁹ After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.

 

In the year 04 BC, electronic GPS was non-existent. It appears that many of the people never gave any thought to the shape of the earth they walked upon. Approximately 240 years previously, an African-Greek by the name of Eratosthenes, believing the earth to be round, set out to find its circumference. He knew that on summer solstice the sun was directly overhead in a deep well in what is now Aswan, Egypt. In other words, it cast no shadow there. By measuring the length of the shadow of a vertical pole in Alexandria and hiring some skilled surveyors to accurately measure the distance between Aswan and Alexandria, some simple mathematical proportions enabled him to calculate the circumference of the earth.

The U.S. has placed 31 Global Positioning Satellites in exact orbits around the earth so that each remains above a fixed spot on the equator of the earth. This way there are always at least 5 satellites within view of any point on earth—except the poles. Each satellite emits a distinct radio signal. Then a GPS device calculates the exact angle of four or five of these satellites. It then performs a series of very exact calculations and can tell the exact altitude, latitude, and longitude of the device. By pinpointing these “’tudes” on a map data base, we can see exactly where we are.

Think about the amount of knowledge and technology that is needed to perform this feat. Now imagine going back in time and trying to explain all of this to Eratosthenes! Undoubtedly, he would think that either you knew a bunch of magic, or you were stark raving insane.

If you have used a GPS to guide you to a place you were going, you know how it can occasionally actually mislead. One time, in the arid country northeast of Denver, Colorado, I asked the GPS to take me to the nearest Walmart. It got me off the freeway and led me along a dirt trail to a spot with no buildings in sight—just extremely dry grass and a few cottonwood trees. Another time, I was driving across a miles-long bridge in Louisiana when it demanded that I make a right turn off the bridge and into the bayou. A third time, while I was driving east across the Yukon in Canada, the GPS positioned me 50 miles north of the highway I was driving on. And I could go on and on.

The wisemen, or magi, were following a star—precursor to the GPS—to find the infant Christ. It led them directly to Herod’s office. They must have felt like I did on the occasions mentioned in the previous paragraph. It probably took them several days before the word came from King Herod that he blessed them on their way to Bethlehem and asked to be informed so he could come and worship the Christ, too. This showed God’s divine purpose to alert the Jewish equivalent of Washington DC to the birth of the Messiah. That evening, when they left the city, they rejoiced to see the star back in its place. Again, they followed it until it actually led them to the exact place where the Joseph of Nazareth family was living.

Father in Heaven, we are relying on you to lead us accurately into your kingdom.

 

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[1] https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/seeking-synchronicity-star-bethlehem-story

Africa by Starlight

 

[1]

John 1:5

Good News Translation

⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

 In 1967 in the heart of Africa, my bus pulled into the tiny hamlet of Nyamuswa. I grabbed my weighty suitcase and a heavy box of books and stepped off onto the dirt road. It was two o’clock a.m. The bus roared off into the night

I stood there. No one was awake at night, and no electricity existed within 25 miles at that hour. No vehicles of any kind were on the road. Nyamuswa was pitch black. There were no phones, not even at home. Cell phones had not been invented. No one knew when I was coming. There was no way I could lug my heavy luggage the three miles to my home at Ikizu on foot. I knew no one in the hamlet. There was no gas station, no café.

Puzzled, I stood there in the night. I hadn’t planned what I would do at this point. Stars were bright in the moonless sky. They made the white-washed walls of the buildings visible, ghostly visible. About four or five low thatched roof buildings down on the right was the maternity clinic that always had several women with complications awaiting their babies. There would be a caretaker there in case an emergency happened at night.

My mind clutched at a faint hope. Maybe I could awaken her and leave my bags there. Of course, men were not welcome there, day or night. Every idiot knew that! I was a foreigner, mzungu. Maybe, just maybe, I could persuade her to let me store my bags there.

I trudged up to the dark, heavy wooden door. “Hodi!” I called loudly. I knocked on the door—no one knocks on a door; they always call “Hodi!”

After repeated calling, a highly suspicious voice replied “Ni nani?” (“Who’s there?”)

“Ni Wilton Clarke kutoka Ikizu!” (“I’m Wilton Clarke from Ikizu.”) With that I had practically exhausted my Swahili. Fortunately, she spoke more English than I did Swahili. After some protracted talking, she understood that I just wanted to leave my bags in her clinic until the next morning. She showed me where to put them, and I left her with a heartfelt “Asante sana!” I would be lying if I said there was not a hint of a worry as to whether I would see them the next morning.

Elsewhere I tell about how the military had been called to Nyamuswa, and they had shot 9 elephants in the Nyamuswa gardens, so wild animals did come into this area every so often. I hadn’t heard any actual reports about animals recently, but I did know that leopards would roam where ever they pleased and that they often killed just for the thrill of killing. Of course, you’ve heard about poisonous snakes and other undesirables. All of these things were in my mind as I started to walk, by starlight, the three miles home.

It was bright enough so I could see where the road surface was. The stars were brilliant. Orion was high in the sky along with its accompanying constellations. The Milky Way was spectacular. So, I really did enjoy the walk. I let myself into the house shortly after three o’clock. Sylvia expressed surprise and joy at seeing me. Later that morning I went back and picked up my bags. They had been moved but were totally unmolested.

Thank You, Lord, for the beauty of a still, dark night with a bit of tension yet filled with Your care.

 

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[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/light-pollution-star-night-sky-england-rural-census-orion-campaign-a8873096.html

Seeing More Than You Expected

[i]

Daniel 3:25 

New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Once or twice a year I would take several carloads of students to a computer show in Las Vegas. We spent the day looking at the latest innovations in the field of computers. We also marveled at the crazy lengths exhibitors went to trying to sell us their product. They showered us with relatively worthless gifts until everyone was walking around with a big bag of loot.

When the show closed, we would get in our cars and go to some casino where we could get a good meal for a very reasonable price. Then we headed south toward home in a caravan. As the miles ticked, by everyone would get sleepy—hopefully not the driver. South of Baker there are several exits off the I-15 freeway that go nowhere. There are no buildings, just a dirt road wandering off into the desert.

At the top of an exit I pulled over and stopped.

Students poured out of all the cars and ran up to me: “What’s wrong, Dr. Clarke?” they queried.

After a minute or two to let their eyes adjust to the darkness, I would point dramatically to the sky. “Look up!”

Their eyes turned heavenward, a unanimous awe inspired “Wow!” escaped their lips. They were city kids. They had never seen the majesty of a black sky with millions of stars, the Milky Way, the majesty of Orion.  Like Nebuchadnezzar in front of the fiery furnace, they would see far more than they ever knew existed. Their minds would begin to imagine how great God and His creation really are.

Thank You, O God, for being so immeasurably greater than our grandest concepts—and for being intimately interested in each of us.

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[i] https://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Winter-Milky-Way-Constellations-Orion-Gemini-Canis-Major-and-Canis-Minor-over-a-Tamarisk-Posters_i13821350_.htm?UPI=PWCVFZ0&PODConfigID=4990719