As purely diversional reading, I’ve been enjoying Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. I only read about a page or two a day because I end most days whooped and I routinely make the mistake of trying to read in bed. This book seeks to uncover the “curious science of life in the void” and although I’m not a particularly scientific guy, I’ve enjoyed the comedic detail that is included in this book.

I’d recommend this book but that is not the reason that Packing has made it into a blog post. You are reading about it here because of the spiritual truth that can be found anywhere, even in the pages of a comedic take on preparing for life in space.

According to Roach, NASA goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure a safe working enviornment. The Safety Action Team has installed wet umbrella bag dispensers at building entrances to keep floors dry and when a corridor makes a 90 degree turn, a block letter sign frets, BLIND CORNER: PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Perhaps focusing on minor workplace dangers helps space agencies cope with the very major threats they deal with on every mission: explosions, crashes, fire, depressurization. Like war, space is a formidable bogeyman that takes its victims no matter how carefully you what-if the situation. You can’t control the weather or gravity, but you can control the amount of water that drips onto the floor from a visitor’s umbrella. (100)

I’m feeling a bit like NASA here in Guatemala. I’m concentrating on making sure we have clean water at our house and that we get access to good chocolate on a regular basis. The little things here help me cope with things like the fact that my family and I live in arguably the most dangerous country in Central America and that the government has declared a military state in the Northern part of Guatemala to help curtail drug trafficking and that public transportation in Guatemala City is becoming increasingly more perilous as local gangs extort safety money from drivers and their companies.

I’d agree with Roach in principle and would say that I can’t control the precarious state of the country in which I get to reside and minister.  But here is the truth: God can control my circumstances as well as the weather and gravity. And it is within His power and sovereignty that I find my peace.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -Jesus in John 16:33

(Todd)