Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been rescued and should be able to sleep in their own beds tonight. Or at least in beds on this planet. That’s more than these two astronauts have been able to say in the last nine months, since their return after a supposed ten-day stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) was delayed due to thruster problems on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that was intended to bring them home. A four-person crew entered the ISS early Sunday morning as part of a mission to relieve Williams and Wilmore. The crew was greeted with smiles and hugs by the seven astronauts aboard the space station, none more than the two stranded Americans.
Their SpaceX spacecraft undocked from the ISS at 1:05 a.m. ET this morning, transporting Wilmore and Williams alongside two other astronauts. Their journey back to Earth will take seventeen hours, with splashdown planned for 5:57 p.m. ET. I’m sure the movie is coming soon.
Let’s consider this remarkable story as a parable.
The ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In its quarter-century operation, it has hosted more than 280 astronauts, cosmonauts, and spaceflight participants from over twenty countries.
However, none of them were born there in the space station.
Each came from Earth with the intention of returning when their operational duty was completed. As a result, no one would need to encourage them to board the spacecraft that would transport them home. However perilous such a journey might seem, it is a temporary means to a much more permanent end, and their real home here on earth.
However, imagine that the space station was populated only with people who were born there on the space station. How hard would it be then to convince them to board a spacecraft to leave the only home they have known for a place they had only read about in a book that claimed that another place called earth was their real and permanent home, and whose existence they must take on faith, from a distant past person who says he was sent from there to tell us?
In the meantime, how challenging might it be to persuade them to live for that day and destination? To convince them that the best way to redeem each day on the ISS is by using it to prepare for the day they leave?
This is just what Christians are asking secular people to believe today.
You and I believe that this temporal world is but a means to our eternal destiny and that the best way to live today is to be ready for the day we depart this broken planet for our glorious eternity. But someone who does not share our faith will understandably wonder why they should make it their own and believe any of us.
The fact that we christians believe it is not enough, nor should it be. If that were the case, people who know Muslims should therefore become Muslims, people who know Buddhists should therefore become Buddhists, and so forth. No one should base their decision regarding eternity on such secondhand evidence.
If someone were to ask me why I use my days on this “space station” floating through the universe to serve the heavenly destination that I believe comes next, I would offer three responses:
- Our planet has in fact been visited by an emissary from heaven who taught us how to join him there. The empirical and historical evidence for Jesus’ life, earthly ministry, death, and resurrection is so compelling as to convince me that our faith is correct on factual and rational grounds.
- This God who visited our planet continues to work in our lives and world through his Holy Spirit. I have experienced personally the transformation he can make in a person when they seek his best for their lives. When we submit to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and focus on loving our Lord and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39), others see the difference and we pray that they’re drawn to our Father (Matthew 5:16).
- Living for our eternal home is the best way to live on this temporary planet because all such preparations improve our lives and relationships now. If we knew our Lord would come for us tomorrow (John 14:1–3), anything we would change today is something we should change anyway. Confessing our sins, forgiving those of others, thinking biblically, and living redemptively are the best ways to experience the “abundant” life of Christ right now (John 10:10).
Ultimately, no evidence will ever be enough to convince blind spiritual eyes into believing all of this. You cannot ask a blind man to look at something they are incapable of seeing. It is actually impossible without God opening your spiritual eyes supernaturally. So, I would ask all on the space station for God to open their spiritual eyes.
In the grand sweep of history, the epochs unfold in a roughly linear fashion, with the Enlightenment paving the way for Modernism, which in turn is followed by Postmodernism.
- Early Modern Period (roughly 15th-18th centuries): This period encompasses the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Age of Enlightenment, characterized by the rise of humanism, scientific inquiry, and the questioning of traditional authority.
- Enlightenment (roughly 17th-18th centuries): This intellectual and cultural movement emphasized reason, individualism, and scientific progress, challenging traditional religious and political structures.
- Modernism (late 19th-mid 20th centuries): Emerging in response to rapid technological advancements and societal changes, Modernism sought to redefine art, literature, and philosophy, often characterized by experimentation, abstraction, and a questioning of traditional forms.
- Postmodernism (mid-20th century to present): Postmodernism emerged as a reaction to Modernism, characterized by skepticism towards grand narratives and universal truths, embracing complexity, irony, and a questioning of the very nature of knowledge and reality.
We are now in the Postmodern era which is proving to be almost completely incompatible with Christianity. Satan is working to convince our post-Christian, secularized culture that this “space station” is the only reality that exists. However, I remind you that in many hearts, at the same time, the Holy Spirit is working to convince them that they desperately need the salvation and transformation available only in Christ (cf. Acts 4:12).
You and I are largely the instruments through which this battle is being waged. When we submit to the Spirit, he uses us to lead eternal souls to their Savior (cf. Matthew 4:18–22). When we do not (and this happens to me a lot) the enemy uses our secularized, sinful failings as evidence against the gospel.
And we miss God’s best for us along the way as well.
I was a machinist for the first few years I was married to make ends meet. I worked for a boss who insisted that I do things precisely the way he wanted them done. This was not egotism on his part. He had been in this business for his entire career, cultivated the customers we served, and knew what they wanted far better than I did. As a result, my opinions were less relevant than his directives. Doing what he said served the customers who paid my salary.
When I had shoulder surgery 8 years ago, the situation was similar. After the surgery, my physical therapists insisted that I do things that made no sense to me and only made my pain worse at the time. Again, this was not egotism on their part. They were outstanding physicians who knew what was best for my long-term recovery far better than I did. Doing what they said came at a cost but turned out to be an investment in a much better future.
Living on this “space station” called Earth, we are all like astronauts—some of us longing for home, others unaware that a greater home even exists. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s journey reminds us that we, too, are sojourners here, awaiting our return to the eternal home prepared for us. As Christians, we hold fast to the promise of Scripture: “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come” (Hebrews 13:14, NLT). Their rescue from the ISS mirrors the rescue we’ve been offered through Christ, who came to bring us back to the Father.
Yet, for those born on this “station,” the idea of leaving for an unseen world requires faith—a faith that God alone can awaken. As the Apostle Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV). We cannot force spiritual sight, but we can pray for it, trusting that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” (Ephesians 1:17-18, ESV).
In this postmodern age, where skepticism reigns and Satan seeks to blind hearts to the truth (“The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”—2 Corinthians 4:4, ESV), our task remains clear. We are called to live as ambassadors of that eternal home, reflecting Christ’s light in a darkened world. Jesus Himself assures us, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3, ESV). This promise fuels our hope and shapes our lives.
So, like those astronauts stepping onto the spacecraft with trust in its design, we step out in faith, guided by the One who designed our destiny. We live each day preparing for departure, knowing “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20, ESV). And as we do, we invite others to join us—not by our own strength, but by the Spirit’s power, trusting that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17, ESV). In this way, our temporary stay on this broken planet becomes a testimony to the eternal glory that awaits.