If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a year, you know that I always write about Sputnik Day, in memory of the first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. This blog, from 2019, highlights the importance of technology to solve problems.

Sputnik was the first satellite. Today, on many nights, one can look up and see multiple satellites. For example, Space-X just launched 21 new Starlink satellites on September 25. You can go here to find out when you can see a Starlink train go by.

I had never seen a rocket launch…until September 14 when we were in San Diego. A small Texas-based company launched a satellite from Vandenberg Launch facility on short notice in a test for the US Space Force. June and I saw the contrail; June saw the late stage; our son Mark, in a separate car, took these pictures.

It’s all very exciting. I remember, when I was a boy, a few preachers decried “sending up satellites to intrude on God’s front porch.” As if by sending rockets away from earth we were invading “God’s space” without his permission.

Don’t believe it. ALL technology is under God’s control. Here are some snippets from the book God, Technology, and the Christian Life by Tony Reinke. (I can’t wholeheartedly recommend the book – he makes good points, but the book is too long, and he makes those good points multiple times!)

For now, I ask: What is God’s relationship to human innovation and technology? In Noah, he commanded it. In the ark, God took human engineering and technology and wrote it into the grand story of redemption. But in Babel, God squashed it. In the face of human self-glory, he introduced the tensions that utterly thwarted human collaboration. (page 44)

And if we’re being honest, many Christians operate with this assumption. In the face of human possibility, God seems aloof, surprised, alarmed, even threatened. But such a conclusion is very wrong, as the prophet Isaiah shows us. (page 44)

Where do innovators come from? God answers this question directly in Isaiah 54: 16–17, as he speaks comfort to his people. “Behold, I have created [bara] the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created [bara] the ravager to destroy; [and yet] no weapon that is fashioned against you [God’s people] shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (p45)

(1) He creates the creators of weapons. (2) He creates the wielders of those weapons. (3) He governs the outcomes of those weaponized warriors—the ravagers. (page 45)

I’m enjoying the technology that I use to create these blogs and the magic of email and the Internet, which allows you to read them. Unfortunately, the same technology can be used to spread vitriol, pornography, and easy access to betting on sports.

You hold WAY more computing power in your hand than what was used to put men on the moon. And we don’t need to give each other directions anymore. GPS, satellite technology, gets us there.

I’m having trouble landing this rocket ship! So I’ll just stop. God gave us the technology; let’s use it for his glory.

And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

• Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
• His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.
• Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. (Genesis 4.19 – 22, ESV, bulleted for clarity. Application to technology suggested by Tony Reinke)