July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong set the first human foot on the moon

"Man On The Moon"

The term "bucket list" was not popular back then, but winning the race
to the moon was certainly high on President John F. Kennedy's agenda.
After watching the Soviet Union put the first human in orbit, Kennedy
declared in 1961 that the United States should make it a priority to
put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.  To spare you the
math, that was a time frame of only eight years.

For those who weren't alive back then (and even I was pretty young),
that was an ambitious goal.  The U.S. space program was in its infancy
and it would be another few months before John Glenn became the first
American to orbit the earth.  Could we possibly place an astronaut on
the surface of the moon before the '70s?  You know, of course, that we
did.  On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong set the first human foot on
lunar soil.  What a technological feat!  Mankind was bursting with
pride!

Yet I read that today is the 80th birthday of Neil Armstrong, perhaps
the most shining icon of the U.S. space program.  I'll confess I don't
know much about Mr. Armstrong since that moon landing.  I've read that
he has maintained amazing humility and has contributed in various ways
to the betterment of society.  One thing I do know is that Armstrong,
like the rest of us, is mortal.

Job lived in what we might today call "primitive" conditions.  Words
he spoke perhaps 4,000 years ago still ring true in our ears: "Now my
days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.
They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey"
(Job 9:25,26).  We live in "modern" times, times when placing a man on
the moon now appears antiquated.  But we're still battling the same
basic issues of mortality.  We all nod in agreement with Job's
observations.

James turned the spotlight on people like us when he addressed those
who carefully plan the days ahead.  "Whereas you do not know what will
happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14).  Yes,
I look back to earlier days in my life and wonder, "Where do the years
go?  Why does life slip by so certainly?"

"Life expectancy" is a familiar term and it hasn't changed all that
much over the last decades.  Though advances have been made in many
areas - communications, medicine, space travel, etc. - we still look
nervously to the future, knowing that a terminal is ahead, somewhere,
where we must get off this train called life.  What then?

"If a man dies, shall he live again" asked Job (Job 14:14).  That
question has not changed.  Science has no ability to answer it.
That's not a slam against science; it's simply to acknowledge that
science deals with the empirical, and spiritual existence is in a
whole other realm.

The Bible, however, can answer our questions about what lies ahead.
Jesus, according to Paul, "... abolished death and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10).  We didn't
have to wait to put a man on the moon to find answers to our most
important questions.

We celebrate the accomplishments of mankind.  Some of them are awfully
impressive.  But as we watch our heroes bow to mortality, let us all
be reminded of the appointments looming before us (see Hebrews 9:27).
The One who made the moon as well as man can help prepare us.

 

--Timothy D. Hall