This week NASA’s InSight Lander entered the atmosphere of Mars and landed on the surface of the Red Planet.  The spacecraft’s journey lasted six months.  It traveled more than 300 million miles from earth, according to news reports.

When a NASA official confirmed the spacecraft had landed on Mars, there were “scenes of celebration at mission control in the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.”  During an interview after the landing, NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenshire said, “InSight could provide some really good information about whether there’s liquid water on Mars.”

The fact that scientists on earth can explore another planet in our solar system seems nothing short of a miracle of ingenuity and technology.  One NASA scientist has said, “I’m in awe when I look at Mars and know we are there.”

The dictionary defines a miracle as an extraordinary or remarkable occurrence or development, especially one apparently supernatural.  The word, miracle, comes from a Latin word, mirus, meaning wonderful.

Though man has accomplished great things in outer space, I am in awe of the God who created this universe.  Right now, though we have no sensation of motion, Planet Earth is spinning at approximately 1000 m.p.h. and traveling through space at about 67,000 m.p.h.  Before the day is over, we will have traveled 1.6 million miles of our annual trek around the sun.

Albert Einstein once commented, “There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

It’s easy to take for granted that earth stays in its orbit or miss the beauty of the sunrise and sunset each day.  John Donne said, “There is nothing that God hath established in the constant course of Nature, and which therefore is done every day, but would seem a miracle…if it were done but once.”

I am also in awe that God would come down from heaven to live and walk among us.  Our family once had the privilege of meeting Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin.  He autographed a picture of himself standing on the lunar surface with the words, “Jesus walking on the earth was more important than man walking on the moon.”

Over 2,000 years ago, the Creator of the universe came from heaven to earth. Matthew 1:23 reads, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”  The angel of the Lord and other heavenly hosts filled the night sky to announce Jesus’ birth to the lowly shepherds watching over their flocks. The shepherds went to nearby Bethlehem to see the Christ Child and celebrated by telling others the news.  Wisemen from the Far East followed a Star to Bethlehem.

But most importantly, I am in awe that God’s Son would come and live in a person’s heart.  Jesus came to die for our sins, so we could spend eternity in heaven with Him.  Through faith in Jesus Christ, you and I can know the miracle of forgiveness and salvation.  One of my favorite authors, Max Lucado, has written, “The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you.”    

Jan White is an national award-winning religion columnist. She can be reached at jan@janwhitewriter.com.