Daily Manna from Heaven

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” -Psalm 19:1

Producing a weekly television program for over 15 years brought more than a few famous people to our studio for interviews, but of all those who appeared as guests on my program, none ever exceeded the graciousness or patience of Astronaut Jim Irwin who went to the moon in 1971. No matter how long the line of mothers who wanted their babies and children to be photographed with this famous man, Jim patiently accommodated them and presented each with a personally signed photo of himself.

On one occasion we were having lunch at T.G.I.F.’s, and Jim had to interrupt his lunch to use the phone. While he was away from the table, I turned to the waitress and explained that Jim was one of the 12 astronauts who had walked on the moon as part of the U.S. space program. After he returned, she kept glancing at him, thinking that I was spoofing. Finally, she blurted out, “Did you really go to the moon?”

Colonel James Irwin not only went to the moon as the commander of the Apollo 15 mission and explored its surface, driving the multi-million dollar lunar rover vehicle (a kind of overgrown golf cart), but there he encountered the presence of God and came back a changed man.

Jim explained that standing on the moon, as he held his hand at arm’s length, planet Earth was about the size of his thumb nail. On the moon, Jim experienced an awesome realization of God’s might and man’s smallness.

Returning from his moon mission, Jim resigned from the space program and established a Christian ministry known as the High Flight Foundation, taking the message of God’s love and power to audiences the world over.

As an ambassador of good will, Jim spent time in Russia and exchanged experiences in space with the Russian Cosmonauts. Though they could not say so publicly, they privately told him that they had experienced the same awesome presence of God he had felt. Jim said he never talked with anyone who had been in space—American or Russian—who did not sense the greatness of God’s might as they went into space.

The medallion presented to the crew of the Apollo 15 reads, “Man’s flight through life is sustained by the power of his knowledge!” But Jim quoted that, capitalizing the H, making the “His” refer to the knowledge of God so it reads, “Man’s flight through life is sustained by the power of His (referring to God’s) knowledge.”

Some of my most cherished conversations with this man, whom I consider to be a real hero, took place in our television studio as we were waiting for our producer to give us the signal to start the interview.

On one occasion Jim told about a little known incident which could have tragically cost his life. They had just returned to the lunar module which would take them back to the Apollo spacecraft, and as they entered the tiny compartment, Jim saw fragments of glass floating in the air. He immediately noticed that the glass cover of an instrumental panel had shattered. His heart sank and he broke out in a cold sweat. If this instrument malfunctioned, he knew that his crew would never return to Earth.

Carefully, they took a small vacuum and sucked up the broken fragments. With anticipation, he turned on the power and the instrument functioned perfectly. Only the glass cover had shattered. Jim again sensed the hand of the Almighty.

Only 12 men have walked on the moon, the same number who walked with Jesus long ago, yet the same One who created the sun, moon, and stars and put our moon in space, 229,000 miles out there, still reveals Himself to those who want to know who He is.

**Permission to reprint is hereby granted by Guidelines, Inc. by Dr. Harold Sala**

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