{"id":1077,"date":"2021-10-06T08:49:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T12:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2021-10-06T08:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T12:49:43","slug":"harvest-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/06\/harvest-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvest Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For hundreds of years, it\u2019s been a kind of running joke:

The moon is made of green cheese.

\u201cGreen\u201d in this context means not-yet-fully-aged, as opposed to spectacular fungal growth.  It\u2019s easy to understand how medieval observers, gazing at the brightest object in the night sky, were reminded of a wheel of cheese.  Besides, no one would ever be able to prove it wasn\u2019t so.  It\u2019s not as if human beings would ever walk on the surface of the moon.

But then we did.  Six times. 

And now we know that the moon is a potential treasure chest of resources that just might transform life on earth in the 21st<\/sup> century. 

The lunar surface gives the impression of being an endless expanse of gray dust.  Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin described it as a \u201cmagnificent desolation.\u201d  But scientists have learned that the lunar soil is generously laced with aluminum, silicon, magnesium, and other elements \u2013 including uranium, thorium, and the \u201crare earth\u201d minerals that are critical for the production of our cell phones, computer monitors, rechargeable batteries, and LED technology. 

One of the key factors fueling China\u2019s high tech revolution is that 96% of the earth\u2019s known deposits of rare earth substances have been found within China\u2019s borders.  It\u2019s no surprise that Chinese officials have been reluctant to share them.  One of the primary goals of the space programs of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and India is to reach the moon and begin mining these priceless resources. 

But that\u2019s not the real prize.

The moon is a repository of helium-3, a light, stable, non-radioactive isotope of helium that is valued at approximately a million dollars an ounce.  While comparatively rare on earth, it is abundant in the lunar soil.  According to Leonard David in Moon Rush: The New Space Race<\/em>, helium-3 can be harvested and converted into a clean form of energy.  If even a modest portion of the 1.1 million metric tons believed to be on the moon\u2019s surface could be transported here to earth, it would solve our planet\u2019s energy needs for more than 10,000 years. 

Then there\u2019s solar energy.                                                                                                                                      
Because the moon has no atmosphere, its surface receives 600 times more energy from the sun than reaches the earth.  For more than 20 years engineers have been envisioning ways to construct a belt of solar cells around the moon.  Collected solar energy could be sent via microwave beams to the earth, where it would be converted into electrical energy.  Again, the sudden possibility of easing humanity\u2019s dependence on fossil fuels seems almost miraculous.

The moon is a treasure.  We just didn\u2019t know it.

Who could have imagined that the earth\u2019s only natural satellite might turn out to be more than just the regulator of oceanic tides and a beautiful backdrop for romantic evenings?

It\u2019s an old story:  That which is overlooked comes to the rescue<\/em>.

That\u2019s also a central part of the Bible\u2019s story. 

An obscure group called the Hebrews \u2013 a dozen powerless tribes squeezed between Babylon, Assyria and Egypt, the so-called real powers of the ancient Near East \u2013 becomes the means by which God blesses the whole world.  David \u2013 the eighth boy in a family of eight boys, dismissed by his own father as the haqqaton<\/em> or \u201crunt of the litter\u201d \u2013 becomes not only the king of Israel but the prototype for the future Messiah. 

Jesus himself \u2013 who is called Immanuel or \u201cGod With Us\u201d \u2013 arrives not as a thunderbolt-hurling version of Zeus but as a blue collar worker written off by the Powers That Be.  \u201cThe stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone\u201d (Psalm 118:22). 

Perhaps this is your story, too.

Your siblings made the honor roll, but you didn\u2019t.  Your best friend opted for the big wedding, while you stayed under the radar.  Your co-workers got the promotions and the raises, but you got passed over.  Your neighbor hosted what everyone decided was the party of the summer, but somehow you were left off the guest list. 

Know this:  You are a treasure, even if the rest of the world doesn\u2019t yet realize it. 

But God knows it.  You are not overlooked by the Creator of the Cosmos.  Only in the next world will we fully comprehend how God has used those considered the Least and the Last to do some of his best work \u2013 maybe even the work that rescued us all. 

What should we do with such an assurance?

Share it.  Be the bearer of God\u2019s grace this week to someone else who needs encouragement. 

And thank God that the name of last month\u2019s full moon \u2013 the Harvest Moon \u2013 has now taken on a significance that is deeper and richer than we ever imagined. 
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For hundreds of years, it\u2019s been a kind of running joke: The moon is made of green cheese. \u201cGreen\u201d in this context means not-yet-fully-aged, as opposed to spectacular fungal growth.  It\u2019s easy to understand how medieval observers, gazing at the brightest object in the night sky, were reminded of a wheel of cheese.  Besides, no one would ever be able… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-1077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible-storyline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1079,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions\/1079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}