Today is Wednesday, July 20th, 2011; Karen's Korner #2113

Taken from a day's entry "In God We Still Trust", 365-day devotional by Dr. Richard G. Lee; this one is for July 20:
 
Communion on the Moon
 
"I am the vine."
~ Jesus speaking in John 15:5
 
"The first lunar landing occurred on July 20, 1969, and Buzz Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 space mission. He was also the second person to set foot on the moon, descending the module after Neil Armstrong.
 
"Aldrin had taken with him a tiny Communion kit, given him by his church. So, that morning, he radioed, 'Houston, this is Eagle...I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening.......to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.'
 
"During the radio blackout, Aldrin took the Communion elements and read John 15:5:  'I am vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.' Aldrin had been asked to not read the verse publicly because of the legal challenge against NASA already brought by famed atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair after the Genesis account of creation was read during the Apollo 8 mission.
 
"Incredible! The first thing this American patriot did when he arrived on the moon was worship God!"
 
Patriot's Prayer
 
"Holy God, as I look to the heavens today I acknowledge that You are the Creator
of heaven and earth, and for this,
I give You thanks.
May I---like Buzz Aldrin---
be quick to recognize opportunities
to remember and
to acknowledge You
and Your greatness."
 
Patriot's Promise
 
"'Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you'
(I Corinthians 11:24)---
these were Jesus' instructions
at the Last Supper,
and Buzz Aldrin took Him literally---
and to the moon!
Jesus' body broken for us!
The promises are implicit in such love
and are indescribable!"
 
*****

Back