The newspaper headline of December 17, 1903 read: Wrights Fly "Heavier-Than-Air" Plane

Dec. 17, 1903 -- A claim by Orville and Wilbur Wright, self-taught inventors from Dayton, Ohio, that they have achieved heavier-than-air flight in an aircraft built by themselves, is being received with skepticism. Earlier this year, Simon Newcomb, a highly respected American scientist, published a proof that powered flight was impossible, and seven years ago, Otto Lilienthal, the celebrated German aeronautical engineer, died in a crash of his air-plane. Nonetheless, the Wrights say they made four flights today on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the longest lasting almost a minute and covering 850 feet. Five other persons witnessed the flight.

Even though the Wright brothers had indeed experienced success in air flight, the newspapers reported the truth with skepticism and unbelief. Science had already proved that such experiments were futile and that the ability to fly like birds through the air was an impossible quest. However, what people thought to be a dream was all true!

Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also. . . . I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me (John 14:6). There are many skeptics and "practical atheists" who also question the words of Jesus. As in the days of Wilbur and Orville Wright, science has created a skepticism for some. For others, eternity is as much a distant dream as the possibility of air flight in 1903. Yet others find it difficult to believe because they have never really heard what the Bible teaches.

I used the words "practical atheist" because the number of outright atheists are really few. Most people believe that there is a God above and over this world and our lives. However, there are many who for all practical reasons live as if eternity is not a reality. There are many who live in such a way that their lives reflect a belief that this world is all there is, that there is no day in which we will face an eternal home with or without Jesus. You see it is possible to live in such a way that we are saying to God and to others that we do not believe what Jesus said about eternity and the way to the Father's house. What we read, how we talk, our amusements, where we are found on Sunday, what we purchase, etc., all communicate whether or not we truly believe that there is a heavenly home and that Jesus is the only way to the Father. How much time have we spent this week reading our Bibles? Do we pray to the Lord as if he is as real as another friend? Did we attend church to be challenged with spiritual truths? Did we say no to wrongdoing because we truly believe that a day is coming when we will stand before God? Have we placed our trust, our confidence in Jesus as the only way to that heavenly home?

The failure of repeated experiments in flight may have been reason for the skepticism of the early 1900's, but we have all the reason for complete confidence in what Jesus has said. He is the resurrected Savior who has demonstrated that He has the power over death. His resurrection is the promise to us that we will also be resurrected to a life in heaven if we place our trust in Him. He is worthy of all our trust and confidence. We need to live as if God is a present, daily reality and that Jesus is indeed the way to heaven, that He is the truth about how to live, and that He is the life that is ours for eternity if we will trust Him alone as the sacrifice for our sins on Calvary.