The Man on the Moon

Forty years ago today I remember sitting glued to the television as the Apollo 11 crew drew closer and closer to the moon and then made that historic landing. When the lunar module "Eagle" seperated from the spaceship Columbia, I thought my heart would stop. And when it landed on the moon, I think it did. But when Neil Armstrong uttered those now famous words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed," I knew the world as we knew it would never be the same.

Then, approximately five hours later, it changed even more drastically as we watched Neil Armstrong descend those nine rungs on the ladder. I know, I counted every one of them, and every step he made. And again, words that have been etched into my heart and soul, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." (Some people claim he said "a man" but all I remember was "man.")

That was one of the most incredible moments of my life. That Sunday eveing everything changed for me. I hadn't really discovered reading until I was in the 6th grade and the book that changed my reading habits was "Secret of the Martian Moons." I was hooked on Science Fiction from that moment on. And that Sunday evening, Science Fiction became reality. It proved to me that there are very few limits to what we can do. If we can think it, we can one day do it. It opened up all sorts of vistas of speculative fiction for me.

But it WAS 1969. I had just graduated from High School. The war in Viet Nam was in full swing. My Military Draft lottery number was 42, so I was off to college. JFK, who had initiated the space program had been assasinated in November of 1963, 6 years earlier. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 (I'll never foget that. It was on my birthday) Then JFK's brother Robert was assassinated in June of 1968.

While I sat glued in wonder of that glorious moment; when I realized that the moon and all the stars were in our grasp, I also wondered why we couldn't do the same glorious sort of thing in the world by bringing peace instead war. Hope and freedom instead of fear and seperation. If there was ever a moment that I would define as the moment I grew up, I would have to say that it was the night I saw the first moon walk and realized how big our dreams can be and how small minded we can still be.

I wasn't a Christian then. I knew of God but didn't know God, so I didn't have reference point or the foundation of hope and faith to hang onto. Despite all of the negative I had seen, I was still an optimist. There was something inside which told me there was something or someone greater than us that could lead us in the right direction. Several years later I found out WHO that was. Jesus. I truly believe Jesus is still the answer.

What He taught. How He taught. How He lived and died CAN change lives and transform the world. I still believe that. I still stand in awe and wonder of the power Jesus has to change lives through healing the brokeness, alienation, and fear in our lives. All we have to do is surrender our lives completely to Him. By becoming less and less we become more and more. The more Jesus shows through us, the more we become like Him, the more we realize our true selves. The self God created us to be. And when we realize the self God created us to be, there is no telling what "giant steps" God will lead us to take.