The Rev. Dr. William R. Nirote

Clyde Tombaugh was and still is not exactly a household name.  Tombaugh was a farm boy from Kansas and his claim to fame was that he discovered the ninth planet Pluto in 1930.  He died in 1997 at the ripe age of 90.  He was   cremated and his remains are aboard the New Horizons space probe.  The New Horizons space probe is scheduled to rendezvous with Pluto in 2015.

Clyde Tombaugh was survived by his 93-year-old widow, Patricia.  Last summer Patricia had to endure the pain of Clyde's discovery  Pluto being demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet.  She claimed at the time that her late husband would understand the decision.  After all, Pluto is smaller than Earth's moon.  Yet, Patricia told the Arizona Daily Star, "I feel like I sort of got demoted from my job being the wife of the discoverer of Pluto."  She continued, "Now I'm the wife of the discover of a dwarf planet."

Whether it was the discovery of a planet or a dwarf planet, Tombaugh's discovery was a major achievement.  Since its discovery nearly 77 years ago, Pluto has only finished about one-third of its orbit.  This discovery of Pluto was the proverbial "finding a needle in a haystack," comparing photographs from one night to another looking for what had changed in a given area with thousands of specks.  On most nights Tombaugh wasn't using the cutting edge technology of the day.  He was using a homemade telescope that he had made out of parts of an old Buick!     However, when he made his discovery of Pluto, he was using a 13-inch telescope at the Lowell Observatory.

What is your claim to fame?  What discovery have you made?  Or, did you support the one who made the discovery?  As important as life's discoveries are, sometimes our best efforts are demoted by another.  Records are broken.  Someone excels beyond our best efforts.

If we are honest with ourselves during Lent, our best accomplishments are dwarfed next to some others.  When we look out at the night sky, we realize all human accomplishments are rather small compared to our Creator's accomplishments.  God told Adam, "You are dust and to dust you shall return."

Our greatest discovery is to know the Creator of the universe and God's love for us all.  That puts things in perspective.
Your partner in ministry,

Bill