Tuesday, January 28, 1986, is a day I will never forget. My family was living in Marietta, Georgia. I was a fifth grader at Kincaid Elementary School. Suffering from a sore throat and a low-grade fever, Mom quickly decided that I would stay home. As it turned out, my sister woke up in the same condition - we stayed home from school together.
We discovered while watching television that NASA had scheduled to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger. What kid wouldn’t want to watch a shuttle launch?
The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, prepared the launch site; we watched as the shuttle was transported to the launch pad; we watched as the astronauts made their way across the bridge waving at the cameras; we watched as they climbed into the shuttle and strapped themselves into their seats; we watched as the rockets fired and the exhaust cloud engulfed the scene; we listened as control center counted down, “t-minus 10 seconds…9, 8…” We watched as the shuttle lifted from the earth.
Seeing the Shuttle Challenger liftoff was a magnificent sight! But, what happened seventy-three seconds later would forever be engraved in my mind. Twenty-five years later, the sight is as real to me as any event from yesterday. Where were you when you heard of President Kennedy's assassination? Where were you when you heard of the terrorist attacks on 9/11? Moments like these seem to be freeze-framed in our minds…this was one of those moments.
The Space Shuttle Challenger spontaneously burst into flames. The solid rocket boosters spiraled off as they fell to the earth in a trail of smoke. All seven astronauts aboard perished, including Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school teacher from New Hampshire who had been selected to join the mission and teach lessons from space to schoolchildren around the country.
What happened? What went wrong?
Rubber O-rings had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster. Engineers were aware of a potential problem. The O-rings could withstand temperatures above 53 degrees, but they didn’t fair well in lower temperatures. There had been successful launches at temperatures slightly below that mark, but this particular launch occurred in 36-degree weather. Engineers had advised postponing the launch, but that would not happen. The O-rings failed because of the extreme cold. In fact, the video above shows ice that had formed on the underside of the shuttle and launch pad.
The warnings had been issued, but they had not been heeded. The RMS Titanic failed to heed similar warnings on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic. Tragedy befell the Titanic and the Challenger.
A rubber O-ring seems so trivial, which is likely why NASA proceeded with the launch. We tend to trivialize, excuse, overlook, ignore, or justify that which seems insignificant. “I realize that I have a problem in this area of my life, but it’s not that significant – it’s virtually harmless.”
Perhaps you’re reading this and you have an addiction problem. It seems so trivial and insignificant. But, if you were honest with yourself (to see what God sees) you would have to acknowledge that it’s a real problem – it controls your life. Sin of any kind is not a trivial matter. Jesus went to a cross to satisfy the penalty for your sin – that is no trivial matter!
The Bible warns that, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Choosing to ignore this warning will certainly lead to destruction. You may survive for a time just as the shuttle was launched successfully a few times below 53 degrees. But, sin will always lead to destruction.
What do we do? We heed the warning and plead to our Advocate; “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2 NASB). Rather than trivialize, excuse, overlook, ignore, or attempt to justify our sin, we must confess and repent of it. We must not run from Christ in our sin; we must run to Christ with our sin.
If you have never run to Christ and believed in Him as your Savior and Lord, may today be a day you will never forget. “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). Surrender your life to Him now.
“But, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39 NASB