From the time European settlements first appeared on the North American continent until the middle of the 19th century, communication between the Old World and the New World was difficult. A letter took anywhere from six weeks to four months to find its recipient. Imagine writing a letter posing a question about the weather in the spring and not receiving an answer until winter. Most of those who settled in the New World resigned themselves to never seeing their former homes again and at best hearing little news of what they left behind.
Standing on the rocky shores of Newfoundland in 1865, one could hardly imagine speaking in real time to someone on the coast of Ireland. And yet it was done a year later. In 1866 the first transatlantic cable was completed. What a miracle it must have been to hear the tapping out of electrical pulses from across thousands of miles of ocean. The world changed overnight—or so it seemed. Few realize the hardship, sacrifice, and years of labor that went into that miracle. There were numerous failed attempts, technological and naval challenges, a near disaster at sea, and a financial quagmire that nearly ruined several supporters of the project. But the supporters maintained their faith and vision. At the outset of the endeavor, entrepreneur Peter Cooper wrote that the joining of two continents “seemed to strike me as though it were the consummation of that great prophecy, that ‘knowledge shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the deep.’ . . . It offered the possibility of a mighty power for the good of the world.”1
How many of us stand on the rocky shores of our difficulties and can’t imagine that God—who seems, perhaps, so far away—can hear us in real time? With God, all things are possible. No distance is too great, no trial too trivial, no dream out of reach. Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we are doing everything we can to bring God’s “mighty power” for good into our lives. Have we done all we can to keep the lines of communication open? If so, we may proclaim with the same joy Samuel Morse expressed in the world’s first telegraph: “What hath God wrought?”2
Program #3886