Wasn't it amazing to learn that an astronaut on Apollo 11 took Communion on the Moon?  Buzz Aldrin wrote out and read John 15:5 to himself before taking the bread and wine: "And 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."  

 For an astronaut with the training and intelligence of Buzz Aldrin [a BS from West Point, and a post-graduate degree from MIT!] this was quite an admission.  Astronauts have always been a symbol of strength and independence and the ability to do anything.  Yet, as a Christian, he realized that, without Christ, he could accomplish nothing.  I wonder if we see this truth as clearly as Aldrin?

 Perhaps you noticed during our Communion service Sunday that, in addition to John 15:5, Buzz Aldrin had another scripture written out on that tiny piece of paper he brought with him to the Moon.  The other scripture was, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou has ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man that thou has visited him?"  Psalm 8:3-4.  Aldrin read this verse as the ship returned to Earth.

 Few people have ever had the ability to observe the heavens, the moon, the stars from the perspective that Aldrin had just experienced.  It was, to him, a profoundly spiritual experience, revealing the depths and the riches of God's grace and love for the only things in all the Universe whom He created in His own image.  

 Hopefully, it won't take a trip to the Moon and back to give us this same vision and understanding of God's love for us, of His belief in us, of His desire for us to do amazing things that will be for the display of His glory, and that will show to a hurting world that God is good.  But, if you ever need a reminder of this truth, just look up at the Moon - God's "faithful witness in the sky".  Psalm 89:37.

~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey