Tom Swift and the Amazing BRIC!

I'm pretty sure that, for me, it all started with "Tom Swift and His Flying Lab." I mean, I knew about Sputnik--had even lain out at night in our backyard to watch it pass by overhead--and I had certainly read my share of space operas, but I was no Rocket Boy. Up until then, it had always been more about the adventure and less (near zero) about the technology used to make the adventure possible.

I had read some Tom Swift adventures, but they were the older novels, books like "Tom Swift and His Motorcycle" (1910). Before me on the shelf that day (circa 1960) was the first adventure of Tom Swift, JUNIOR. Standing there in the store, I goggled at the cover art for TSaHFL. That giant, jet-powered VTOL airplane--even bigger than the Spruce Goose!--with normal-sized jet planes flying out of its onboard hangar, the Earth hanging below it and the blackness of space above it; that's the moment I was hooked.

I wanted to be an Astronaut.

I begged my parents for the money to buy that book (There were no NEW books of this type in any lending library to which I had access. See earlier reference to TS and his motorcycle.). Suffice to say, some time passed before I was able to read it all the way through. Eventually, though, I did read it, and reread it, and again a few MORE times until I could just see myself working in that lab, circling the globe at near orbital heights, studying everything below . . . and above.

So. It has now been more than half a century since that pivotal moment. And, no, I am not (nor do I expect to be) an Astronaut. Nor am I a credentialed scientist. But my inner Rocket Boy still lives. And he was delighted to tour the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC), recently . . . especially when our tour brought us to the Space Sciences Lab (Mission Design & Data), Satellite Integration, and the Dusty Plasma Simulator. I was in heaven :-)

The BRIC, housing all sorts of scientific projects and activities, is partly research lab central and partly business incubator. If you ever have the opportunity to tour, I highly recommend it. For the kind of fascination where hours feel like minutes, it ranks up there with The Armstrong Browning Library & Museum.

One of the more interesting aspects of the BRIC (among hundreds) is the story of the facility, itself. In addition to what goes on inside it, this massive, 300,000 square foot building is also architecturally fascinating. What now houses cutting edge science was once . . . a tire factory.

General Tire opened the plant in Waco, Texas in the early 1940's. And it was a thriving operation. Until it closed its doors for good. Sure, the "bones" were still there; they were always substantial. But what do you do with a tire factory when there is no longer a need for one? So, for decades, it sat; empty, abandoned, useless, worthless. Circumstances had brought it low. For the longest time, it was lost.

And no amount of wishing was going to change that. And it would still be just like that if some folks had not decided to redeem it, reshape it, re-task it. What was old has passed away; it's now a new creation.

All of this week's Lectionary selections are about redemption. Read them and experience a quiet joy spreading across your thoughts and emotions. These Bible passages are about being brought back from the brink, having new life breathed in, being rescued from evil, coming home.

###############################
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 10, 2013)

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

If you're in Waco on Friday morning, join us at 8:00 for breakfast and the pleasure of talking about how the words of the Bible actually work in our real lives. We'll be at The Egg and I (on Franklin behind The Outback).

Enjoy the week!
Steve