LISTEN ONLINEThe book Hidden Figures recounts preparations for John Glenn’s flight into space. Computers were brand-new inventions in 1962, subject to glitches. Glenn didn’t trust them and worried about calculations for the launch. He knew one woman in the back room could run the numbers. He trusted her. “If she says the numbers are good,” Glenn said, “I’m ready to go.”
Katherine Johnson was a teacher and mother of three. She loved Jesus and served in her church. God had blessed Katherine with a remarkable mind. NASA used her in the late 1950s to help with the space programme. She was one of the “human computers” they hired at the time—and the person Glenn relied upon.
We may not be called to be brilliant mathematicians, but God calls us to other things: “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it” (Ephesians 4:7). We’re to “live a life worthy of the calling” we’ve received (v. 1). We’re part of one body, in which “each part does its work” (v. 16).
Katherine Johnson’s calculations confirmed the course trajectory. Glenn’s launch into orbit was like “hitting a bull’s-eye”. But this was just one of Katherine’s callings. Remember, she was called also to be a mother, teacher and church worker. We might ask ourselves what God has called us to, whether big or small. Are we “ready to go”, thanking Him for the grace-gifts He’s bestowed and recognising He has prepared times and places for us to use them?