Recently a news story grabbed my attention as on June 5th NASA’s Sunita Williams and her crewmate Butch Wilmore launched from the earth about aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft heading for the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was to last eight days but some technical issues, including problems with thrusters and helium leaks, meant that it was decided that it was too risky for them to return on the Starliner, which has now returned to earth without them, and so they will have to wait to return on a different spacecraft. That wait will be eight months – wow! The station is, however a constantly crewed station with regular supplies, ensuring the astronauts have will access to essential resources and supplies.
I have been pondering how it felt for these two highly trained astronauts. I am sure something psychological will be going on there as what their minds have been set upon is changed. I wonder if you have ever ended up with time on your hands unexpectedly, a cancelled event, being incapacitated, a change in circumstances, decisions of ours or of others and the consequences. That has happened a few times for me in different ways but as I look back those moments have often been somewhat cathartic. Time spent resting up, slowly catching up on things, refocussing and working at stuff which might otherwise have been neglected were all significant parts of making use of the surprise gift of time.
I also recently read a post on the social media site X by Anna Frame who wrote “Went to help a friend get her bags onto the train. Got stuck on the train as people wouldn’t move out of the aisle to let me off. Ended up in Carlisle. Not how I expect to spend my afternoon, but I will say it is sunnier here than in Edinburgh. Every cloud, I guess…?”
We read in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God has made everything beautiful in its time and has also set eternity in the human heart. We might not be able to fathom what is happening in such circumstances, but we can, if we turn our hearts and mind to it reflect on things unseen and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18)
The life of Christian discipleship is a journey, an adventure, an odyssey even. It is mystery to many of us how the people of God’s journey of exodus which could have taken around eleven days took more like forty years. “Lord, are we nearly there yet?” We can all think of times when for us time (Chronos) seems to slow down or speed up, or when we sense that there is something significant or critical going on currently (Kairos).
When I pray the Lord’s prayer I both acknowledge God’s provision (daily bread) and also a willingness to be diverted, delayed, and deconstructed (Thine be the kingdom). At the end of the day none of us really knows what will happen tomorrow and I really do need to be more relaxed about the frailty of my schemes and plans (James 4:15) and start joyfully living with experiencing the twists and turns of this ‘pilgrim’s progress’.
Finally, we can really give ourselves to the unpredictable adventure of following Jesus today and every day. Despite what I have written here, though, please still do let people off the train if you can!
