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Safely Returned…

By July 24, 2022December 7th, 2022Devotional

On this date, July 24th, in 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins – safely returned to earth after having visited the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin actually walked on the lunar surface while Mike Collins circled them above (as the command module pilot) waiting for their lunar lander to return – before they started their voyage back to earth.

While most of us celebrate the actual moon walk – Armstrong was the first and Aldrin second – that, in and of itself, wouldn’t have fulfilled President Kennedy’s vision and expressed goal to the American people. You see, Kennedy created a feeling of national pride back in 1961 by committing this nation, by the end of the decade, to a course of action that would be fulfilled on July 24, 1969.

On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project…will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important…and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish…”

So the fact that the Apollo 11 astronauts landed safely back on earth fulfilled Kennedy’s goal.  A sense of national pride filled all of us who remember that day. And it was undeniably the end of the space race with Russia for the successful conquest of space. I don’t think there has been another day like it since.

Kennedy committed us to the moon not because it was easy, but because it was hard. It would be the most expensive undertaking by mankind and brought unity to the nation. During the time of the hippies, Big Sur, Vietnam and a host of other conflicting agendas, including the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, this ideal gave us something to get behind.

So it took something outside of this world to bring us hope as a nation; and a world. Since that first landing, a number of other men have landed on the moon – and returned safely to earth. Now we are getting ready to enter the next wave of deeper space exploration. The moon will undoubtedly be a stop along the path of eventually colonizing Mars. How exciting. I hope that our generation lives long enough to see that accomplished!

Our verse for tonight reminds us that no matter where we are, or where we go, we are still in God’s creation. We are told by Moses, the author of Genesis, in Genesis 1:16-18, “God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.”

My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to do things that bring us together – not divide us. In this world of so much hatred and unrest, my prayer is that we can celebrate the victories that we have had, for all mankind, and work to achieve the peace that the Apollo 11 astronauts referred to on the plaque that they left on the descent stage of the lunar lander.

It reads, simply, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” Never in the history of the world has such an expression of peace been part of exploration. We need more of that. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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