Because God Allowed Us To

“And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”  Matthew 17:20

     “We choose to go to the moon.  We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too….

     Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
     Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”

     On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy, before a joint session of Congress set the nation to commit itself to doing the unthinkable:  landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth, within NINE years.  A task that wasn’t even though possible, as of yet.  Sixteen months later, at Rice University, President Kennedy gave his speech to the public, that came to be known as the “We Choose to Go to The Moon” speech.  He ends with stating the need for God’s blessing on this endeavor.  God would be the ONLY way that this journey was going to happen.

     Seven years later, America was in a turmoil of hatred and violence.  It was the year of the Tet Offensive, in Vietnam.  The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.  Riots broke out in Washington, D.C.  Racial tensions were sprouting up everywhere.  The nation was broken, torn, in trouble.  Then, something amazing happened.

     On Christmas Eve, 1968, three men accomplished an historic task.  Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders found themselves in orbit around the moon, staring at the beautiful and desolate body that has been Earth’s companion among the stars.  At 8:11pm (Houston time), on a live broadcast, the crew read from Genesis, of God’s creation of the Earth.  What better way to mark the occasion, by remembering the One that made all things possible?

     An entire year of chaos, ended with a comforting feeling of peace.  It was a reminder that, even when things are going bad, we can turn to the Lord and good will prevail. 

     “It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars.”  Richard Paul Evans

     Let us remember to seek the Lord when we face a new challenge, need to be healed, or being thankful when an imaginative goal is made into reality.