The longest foot

I like to track the progress of the Mars Rovers. These amazing machines are crawling around Mars at the command of joy-stick-holding scientists here on Earth. Each command takes a few minutes to be recieved on Mars, and then another few minutes to be acknowledged back on Earth. A long trip is 4 feet with a response time like that. Amazing remote control to the extreme.

Well, that is nothing.

My brand new grandson, Ensley Smith, is about to traverse the most dangerous, the most arduous, and the most mysterious 1 foot road he will ever see. My daughter called from her home about 1 1/2 hours away to say that the new baby signaled very clearly that the trip was starting. he was positioned for the launch and the countdown was starting. My wife got her prepacked bag, hopped in the car, and began her 65 mile drive to attend the occassion. The thing is, she'll make that 65 mile trip in about 1 1/2 hours, and Ensley will undoubtedly take most of the night traveling the 1 foot he has ahead of him.

It's the shortest and hardest road, fraught with danger, shock, and surprise. And at the end of it he will never be the same, emerging from his warm dark home with the muffled sounds and endless feeding to the cold, lighted world he'll spend his next 80-100 years in.

This is some of God's greatest work. He blesses my wife and I with the joy we see in our own child and her husband. They, his parents, are blessed as they see their marriage manifested in this greatest gift, this timeless memorial to love, this promise of a new start that illustrates the birth the Christ makes possible for all of us. He, little Ensley, is blessed with new life in this world, an exciting life that may even extend to the 22nd century. Whew!

A joyful night is happening.