One Small Step for Man
Author: Pastor Mitch
July 25, 2019
50 years ago this week, when the Eagle lunar had initially touched down on the surface of the moon, astronaut Buzz Aldrin did something rather unexpected. Before opening the hatch to the long-anticipated and hard-sought-after moon walk, Aldrin pulled out a plastic packet containing a wafer, wine and a small silver cup. Then he spoke into the radio. “Houston, this is Eagle.”
Aldrin continued, with the world listening in: “I would like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." Aldrin then silently read from John 15:5, which he penned on a 3-by-5-inch notecard: “As Jesus said: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in Him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”
Before the mission, Aldrin, a committed Christian, pondered how he might bring God honor and thanks if they should make it to the moon. Aldrin shared after the mission, "I wondered if it might be possible to take communion on the moon, symbolizing the thought that God was revealing Himself there, too, as man reached out into the universe. For there are many of us in the NASA program who do trust that what we are doing is part of God’s eternal plan for man."
Sitting next to Neil Armstrong, Aldrin opened his little plastic packet which contained the bread and wine and he poured it with little gravity into the cup, then he partook. It was interesting for Aldrin to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food ever eaten, were the symbols of communion.
At the end of the mission, when Aldrin was headed back to earth, he read aloud for the world to hear a second verse, from the Old Testament, he scrawled on the same notecard, Psalms 8:3-4: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"
As we live our lives, in summer, fall, winter and spring, whether we be at work, school, or vacation, may we always look to honor God and give Him thanks. For He is always mindful of us!
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