Max sat at the kitchen table with his physics book open. It was three weeks until the end of the semester, and he had an A in all his classes but one―this one. It wasn’t that it was harder than he had expected; it’s just with all the attention and focus he had placed on the bonus assignment, he had not maintained a solid grasp of each chapter of the text book as the class progressed. And what was now abundantly clear was that keeping up as the problems evolved was at least as important as your ability to understand the material.

  As he buried his attention into the book, the phone rang. He heard his mom answer and give the phone to his dad. He could tell his dad was talking to his brother, Oliver, and the conversation seemed serious.

  After he got off the phone, his dad walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

  “Is anything wrong?” Max asked.

  “Uncle Pete is in the hospital in Tennessee. He had a minor stroke,” his dad replied as he took the coffee pot from the platform of the coffeemaker and began to pour the remains into a cup.

  “Is that Grandma’s little brother?”

  His dad looked back at him and nodded. Then he spoke up so his words could be heard in the living room. “Don’t change my channel. I’m coming right back.”

  “Are you going down there?” Max asked.

  His dad sat down across from him. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out—if I should fly down there.” He took a sip of the coffee and made a sour face. Walking over to the microwave, he placed the cup inside and set the timer for fifty seconds.

  As Max watched, he suddenly forgot about his dad’s uncle as he began to think about flying to Tennessee, the television, the coffeemaker, and the microwave. His dad took out the cup and tested it and found the temperature to be satisfactory and walked back toward the living room.

  “Dad, can I ask you a question?”

  His dad stopped and looked longingly at the living room for a second then smiled and came back to his seat across from Max. “Sure, son. What’s up?”

  “I was just thinking,” Max began, “about science and Christianity. I know there seems to be a conflict, especially with certain scientific theories. But how do you feel about technology?”

  His dad tilted his head as he thought about that. He took another sip of coffee before answering. “I have no problem with technology. Why do you ask?”

  Max thought about how to word his concern. “Well, most technology is either based on science or directly created from science. I know you have flown on a commercial airliner several times, and we have a lot of gizmos around the house, so it seems like science isn’t quite the enemy we might think it is.”

  “Science has never been the enemy,” his dad corrected. “It is people who use science to try to prove there is no God. That’s more the problem.”

  “So, you would say that the invention of the airplane is a good thing as far as Christians should be concerned?”

  Once again, his dad paused to reflect on the question. “Yes, I would say it’s a good thing, possibly a great thing. The invention of the airplane has allowed men to better spread the Word of God; it’s allowed people to visit family and friends; it’s allowed people to visit sick relatives; it’s made it easier to transport medical supplies and even donor organs to get them to hospitals on time. I’m sure I can think of more examples if I concentrate on it.”

  “But what about the attacks of 9/11? What about building bombers and that kind of thing?” Max asked.

  “Oh, that’s where this is going. Let me ask you this, Max. Do you believe a gun is evil?”

  “I believe it was created for evil,” Max said.

  His dad shook his head. “That wasn’t the question.”

  Max thought for a second. “Okay, the gun itself is not evil.”

  “Correct,” his dad said. “Neither is the airplane or any other invention. It takes a person to be evil, and a person can and will use any device or machine in the world for evil. Should we do away with airplanes and all the good they have done since their creation because someone used one to cause the deaths of innocent people? If airplanes didn’t exist, would those people have given up or found another way to carry out their mission of hate?”

  Max had never thought about it that way before. As he sat there pondering, his dad figured his job was done and got up and went into the living room. Max took his pen and started drawing a circle about the size of a quarter on the top of his open notebook. He filled in the land areas as the circle took on a rough image of earth. Then he drew a small airplane in the air above the earth.

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  He began to think about other inventions and the impact they have had. The Wright brothers had first flown around the turn of the twentieth century, over a hundred years ago. Max knew there was a time when they would have been accused of witchcraft for even attempting to fly. Even in their time, the Wright brothers faced skepticism and lawsuits. But the invention stood the test of time.

  Time? Max smiled. His invention wouldn’t have to stand the test of time; it was a test of time. Maybe it only needed the perspective of the future to know the true value of its importance.

  Max then sketched a bomb falling from the airplane and stared at it as if he didn’t even mean to do it. Would a person even be able to obtain a patent for a time machine, he wondered, or would the government take possession and use it to travel into the future to learn more advanced forms of destruction?

  There was one difference in his invention and the invention of the Wright brothers. If someone flew from New York to England, they couldn’t really have an impact on New York. But if someone traveled from this year to a point a hundred years into the past, they could do things that would have an impact on the current day. Or if someone traveled forward one hundred years in time, they could bring back information or technology that could very well affect the future.

  But to go as an observer only, that really could be amazing. Imagine seeing the dinosaurs or hearing the Sermon on the Mount. But, from what he had read, most scientists agree that traveling back in time is not possible, only forward. It was all very confusing. As he stared at his airplane sketch, however, he knew his dad had made a good point. The good that air travel had been able to bring to the citizens of this planet far outweighed the bad.

  ***

  Max and Julie sat by the professor again as the students of the Bible study group were just beginning the last topic of the night. The topic was presented by one of the female students who Max had seen there every Thursday night but hadn’t heard her name until now.

  “Okay, Belinda,” the professor said. “Your topic was about people who lived before Jesus or people who never had a chance to hear about the Word of God, can those people achieve salvation? What are your personal thoughts?”

  Belinda looked around the room and cleared her throat. “I don’t see how someone could be granted salvation when the Bible says you must have accepted Jesus into your heart for that to happen. It’s really sad, but if you never even knew about Jesus, how could you accept him as the savior?”

  Most of the students could offer no insight. A few attempted but with no scriptural references. Finally, the professor looked to Max.

  “What do you say, Max?” he asked.

  Max took a deep breath. “That’s a tough one. The Word of God has always been present. It was evoked to create the earth and the Heavens. We know Adam and Eve knew about the Word of God and disobeyed them. As the world became more populated and people moved farther away, it would seem throughout history that they chose not to take the Word and Laws with them. That led to the flood and God starting over with Noah and his family. As the world once again became populated and people became to spread out, it became a problem again. That’s what it says in Isaiah 53:6.”

  Kenneth read. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

  “What does Iniquity mean?” asked Belinda.

  “It means you chose to violate the laws with wickedness,” the professor explained.

  Rollo chimed in. “So, when people went off on their own and didn’t take the Word of God with them, and maybe even invented their own God, did that condemn all their offspring or even entire civilizations?”

  “That’s exactly what I was wondering,” Belinda said.

  Max shook his head. “I don’t know. It is Satan who lures people away. But again, the Word has always been present. Even before it was written, people passed it along verbally. But I understand your point. If a child is born into a family who never heard the Word from others, would it cause them to unfairly be judged? After all, it is our duty as Christians to spread the Word to those who not only refuse to accept it, but to go to places where they’ve never heard it. That’s why I think missionary work is so important.”

  “But they don’t reach everyone,” Julie said. “And especially not those who have died a long time ago and never had the opportunity to benefit from missionaries.”

  “That’s true,” Max said. “There is something else I’ve always wondered about. John was given a peek into Heaven and how things would work for the second coming and judgment. Read Revelation 20:1-3.”

  A student read. “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.” The student looked up at Max to clarify that was the right scripture.

  Max nodded. “I’m not sure what this means, but since it is the devil who corrupts us and leads us astray, which resulted in so many people not having teachers to instruct them on the Word, I’ve often wondered if this time could be spent for that. They lock Satan away so he can no longer deceive the nations for that thousand-year period. Could this be so that people who were deceived their entire lives could now have the same opportunity as we all have and be able to make their choice? It says the devil is then released back upon the earth for a short time, so I think it’s obvious he will continue his ways, but now people have the information needed to make their own decision. The question is, will they have the faith?”

  “That’s interesting,” the professor said. “Where did you hear this?”

  Max shrugged to display that he hadn’t heard it anywhere.

  “Well, it’s certainly food for thought. Does anyone else have anything to add?” the professor asked.

  No one spoke up, so they all left for the night.