It was a popular Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie.  Now it is a victory for graduating students Gino Cunti,  Paul Je, Patrick Neelin, and Kevin Luong, all of Canada.  They are the first group of students to design and create a radio that was able to communicate with the International Space Station.  According to an article I read, they were able to do this after a few minor glitches.  They had a brief conversation just after Noon on Feb. 2, 2009.  They asked some questions and talked with astronaut Sandra Magnus.

Neelen said:

I got maybe an hour of sleep last night going over everything in my head, reflecting on the progress we’ve made … and basically how we were told we were crazy and we’d never be able to do this.

As I read this story, my first thought was, “COOL!”  Then immediately I jumped to the amazing nature of prayer.  God is a million miles away in the minds of most people.  And the Space Station is just a few thousand.  Yet talking to God is as simple as praying.  But how many of us make it as complicated as extraterrestrial communication must be.  You don’t have to have fancy equipment or work with great minds in technology.  You just have to bow your head and talk.

There are glitches that can keep our prayers from reaching the heart of God.  They are called sin.  But they are easily remedied via the grace and blood of Jesus mixed with our humility.

So next time you bow to pray, think about these gentlemen and all they went through to do something so amazing as to warrant newspaper articles.  And think about how more amazing it is that your words are going so much higher, and yet not far at all.