Merry Christmas!

I wanted to post something special for Christmas, but what? I heard a story on the radio, and thought it would make a good topic to blog, but when I was researching the story, I found something much better.

The first person to enter space was a Russian named Yury Alekseyavich Gagarin who took the first manned trip into outer space on April 12, 1961. It has been reported that he made a statement after his flight that he did not see God during his flight, but the statement was not widely reported.

It was the next Russian astronaut, Major Gherman Titov, who created much publicity when he triumphantly reported after his return to Earth: "I looked and looked, but I didn't see God."

Contrast that with the words of Gemini VII Pilot James Lovell who reported from space that he saw God EVERYWHERE.

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You will recognise James Lovell as one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. It was another member of the Apollo 13 crew, Jack Swigert, who uttered the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." If you saw the movie, Tom Hanks was James Lovell.

So consider the present day when to utter the name of Christ at Christmas is found to be offensive by so many.

In addition to Apollo 13, James Lovell flew two Gemini missions, and Apollo 8. This is the good part of the story.

Apollo 8 was launched from Kennedy Space Center on December 21, 1968.
Their mission was to orbit the moon.

They reached the moon on December 24, 1968. As they orbited the moon and went around the back, or dark side of the moon, they lost radio contact until they were back in sight of the Earth. As they came around the moon the Earth rose above the moon's horizon, and this is what they saw...

Our Earth, floating against the black backdrop of space, above the barren surface of the lunar surface. A spectacular sight!

Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first three humans to circle the moon in Apollo 8. On December 24th, Christmas eve, most Americans and people around the world were "glued" to radios and TVs as the astronauts approached a critical firing of their rockets on the backside of the moon while out of radio contact. With a successful firing, they would be aimed back at Earth; without it, they would have been lost in space and unable to return.

After many anxious moments, the voice of James Lovell announced to an expectant and relieved world: "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus."

Then, looking at the "earthrise" over the horizon of the moon in what have become some of the most famous pictures of all time, the following happened...

I dont remember this, and I dont remember having ever seen it in all the time since that time. I find it amazing and inspiring that in the middle of all that technical and scientific achievement, these men still realised that we serve a truly Awesome God. What's more, they had the ability, the security, and the temerity to say so. These men, and so many others, such as Charles Duke, who piloted Apollo 16 to the moon, and is from Lancaster, SC, did, indeed, have the 'Right Stuff'.

Merry Christmas, everyone!