Modern Miracles

 The time had finally come. After a year in exile due to COVID-19, we were about to go home to Thailand. The process of making it happen, though, was quite daunting—getting visas, health certificates, COVID tests, booking a quarantine hotel room, buying special insurance, and not to mention the hours and hours of research to figure out  how to do it all.

We left early on a Friday morning, leaving ample time to not have to rush. We pulled off the highway at Pyramid Lake to enjoy one last view of the Los Angeles Mountains before leaving the country for a few years.

Pyramid Lake

We were happy that all of our paperwork was in order and they allowed us to check into our flight. We weren't really looking forward to the 15 hour 45 minute-long first leg to Doha Qatar. We've never been on a single flight for such a length of time. How would we manage?

Our Qatar Flight to Doha

After they served our first meal, about 2 hours into the flight, I noticed the display in front of me: 13h 46m Remaining.

Time Remaining 13 Hours 46 Minutes

At first glance it seemed overwhelming—already on the plane 2 hours and still that much time left. Then I thought about it some more. Our first stop was Doha, 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles. I'm thinking that seems like it might be just shy of half-way around the world. Turns out it's actually 8300 miles (13,400 km) - about 1/3 the way around. And we we flying just over 15 hours to do that. One-third the way around the world in only 15 hours and on a single tank of gas!

Suddenly, my perspective changed. What an amazing time we live in. Who would have thought that such a thing would be possible. Its been only 116 years since the Wright Brother's first successful flight of an airplane. Their plane flew less than 200 feet and only reached about 10 feet off the ground. It makes me wonder what transportation will look like in another 100 years.

In Genesis 1:26 (ESV) we read: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." It seems that one of the qualities we received being made in God's image and likeness is creativity. While our creative genius does not reach to making planets that fly around stars and making solar systems spin around inside galaxies, we are able to learn from the natural laws God put in place and harness that knowledge to do some pretty amazing things.

God, I thank you for how you made the universe in such a way that everything works according to natural laws. Because of this we humans can figure out ways to do lots of amazing things. Help us to use that knowledge in order to help one another and not to bring harm. And let us not be negligent in giving You glory because You are the One who makes it all possible.