The air was hot on the planet, hot and thin the spaceman noticed right away., Far from the "paradise" the travel brochure had claimed it would be when he headed out this way. The blood red sun hanging in the sky cast quite an eerie tone over the landscape he had crashed down on. He'd been suckered, that's for sure, when he bought into the promises the agent fed him. He'd even taken the advice of buying a one-way ship, with just enough food to get him here. "Why, the land is overflowing with all kinds of things to eat!" the man had said. "No one who's went there has ever wanted to come back! No predators, perfect weather round, and not too many friendly folk to make it crowded." Well, at least he was right about that last part, too right. The spaceman hadn't seen another soul or any living creature around since landing at the "spaceport", which turned out to be just blind coordinates that fortunately happened to be on land. In fact land is all that seemed to be, there was no water that he could find, only this tar-like sludge that carne up out of the ground here and there. As for food? The vegetation here contained toxins and was extremely tough to cut, let alone chew! But his luck was about to change.

Because, with water running out and the last of his food failing, the spaceman had found an alien dwelling. Inside the dwelling were obvious rooms that indicated the aliens must have been similar to us, with clearly defined bedrooms, bathrooms, and ... a kitchen! With glee our hero inspected each nook and cranny of that kitchen, and determined that there was a food dispenser of some kind above a high table (why so high? He sat on the "chair" and the table carne up to his chin! These aliens must have had very short legs, or folding ones of some kind.) Never mind that now, let's have some food. Pressing the only button there, way up high, the spaceman waited anxiously for the food to come out and got - yuk. Some kind of sticky, nondescript substance. Weeping with disappointment, he went and got the last of his food and brought it in to eat on the table. When he got back, the alien food was gone. Huh? He set his food on the table and looked around but the only footprints in the dust were those of his own. When he came back to the "kitchen", the last of his food was gone! Now he was pretty mad, and pounded on the food dispenser. He happened to hit that button, and out came... food like his! The machine had "learned" to make his food! Only one problem. The last of his food was spoiled, so the machine made spoiled food! When he poured some of his last precious few drops of water on the table, waited for it to disappear, and hit the dispenser button it made water that was so foul he couldn't bring himself to drink it. Apparently the aliens didn't drink water. So he did the only thing left he could do. He trusted himself completely to the alien food, went into the bedroom, laid on the too-short bed, and expected to die.

You probably think this is a "far out" bulletin, and I suppose it is. This is a paraphrase of a story I read when I was still in grade school, a story that was supposed to get you to think in new ways. How could this spaceman be saved from destruction? And therein lies the lesson today. The agent (the devil!) makes great promises about this world (the planet) and we listen to it. Like the spaceman, we find ourselves in a lost condition, without hope. Or is that true? Because sometimes we have hope, if we only know how to look for it. To sinners, the bible itself is alien and strange, yet being alien and strange is what we are to be. New creatures, remember? Oh, we may try to "adapt" some things, and indeed adopting portions the truth will serve us well. However, ultimately what we find is that they become corrupt and indigestible, just like the food. Because the spaceman's food, in this story, is the pleasures of the world. That's what he's seeking, after all. Applying the bible to it and the wisdom found therein may "nurse it along" but they are not compatible and the pleasures become tainted and spoiled. At least they seem spoiled, that is what my friends used to tell me when they wanted to do bad things and I, in my good conscience, couldn't play along. "You're spoiling our fun!" they would say. Does that mean there's no fun in this world? Hardly! A Christian should rejoice and enjoy their lives given them by God. But let's finish up with our spaceman. If the pleasures of this world won't sustain him (his food is running out) and the alien food (the word of God) seems toxic to him, what can he do? It's obvious if you are a bible student, but read on...

The spaceman awoke feeling vibrant, healthy, and alive! The bed was so comfortable, just his size, he hated to get up, but finally he pried himself out of bed just in time to greet a glorious sunrise. Hardly even thinking about it, he went to the kitchen and fed himself from the perfectly working food dispenser, by sitting at the properly sized table and hitting the easily reachable button. Then, hearing another spaceship coming down (and probably crashing) nearby, he hopped out to greet his neighbor and bounded over the landscape to bring him the good news about this wonderful, glorious planet!

Randy