Senator Bill Nelson trained for and flew on a six-day space shuttle mission aboard the Columbia just prior to the Challenger disaster. In his book Mission he explains how difficult it is to maintain a proper orbit （軌道）in space. There’s no resistance （阻力）in space, so an astronaut can literally turn that huge orbiter （軌道飛行器）over by himself. To maintain a proper orbit, the onboard computers constantly make course （航向）and altitude （高度）corrections by firing small rockets which make minute（微）adjustments, while larger jets burn fuel to make major adjustments. These rockets are critical, for if they dont consistently fire at the right time, the space vehicle can veer from （偏離）it’s orbit and go tumbling into outer space or crashing into Earths atmosphere.
There’s an important lesson here for each of us. Left to ourselves, we tend to veer out of our spiritual orbit into lukewarmness （不冷不熱）and indifference（不在意）. Or worse - we end up in sin and rebellion. That’s when the rockets of prayer and Bible study, fired on a continuous and consistent basis, help us to keep our course correct, and prevent our lives from spinning out of spiritual control. Bible study and prayer go together. You should pray before you read the Bible to ask God to help you understand it. And you should pray after you read it to ask God to help you apply （用）what he has told you.
Like a faraway lover, God’s love letter （情書）to you is the Bible, and prayer is the telephone you pick up and talk back to him. That’s why its crucial to maintain your daily prayer and Bible study.』
Feifei畫中手持聖經一飛沖天的太空人，正是我的小孫女！
