July 20, 2017 (Thursday)
Today, July 20, is another of those special days outlined in the June 30 blog. Today is “Moon Day,” celebrating mankind’s first personal visit to the moon.
On that day in 1969, our church in Rockport was conducting all the worship services as usual. I remember Pete Moss coming up to me before the service began that evening, and asking for my assurances that we would end the service on time, giving the members plenty of time to get home, tune up their T.V. and watch the Lunar Landing. It was indeed a very special day.
Six years earlier, in a speech to Congress on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave us this promise and challenge: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” America pulled out all the stops, accelerated the Apollo space program, and 8 years later, on July 20, 1969 at 9:56 p.m. our time, Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon’s surface. Six hundred million people watched, most of them on black and white tv screens, and listened as he uttered the words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Neil Armstrong – First Man on the Moon
There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972, leaving behind a plaque which reads, “We came in peace for all mankind.” Until that day, the Soviet Union had led in space accomplishments, but after our astronauts were televised as they walked on the moon, the world was convinced that America was ahead in the race.
If you think about it, celebrate “Moon Day” today and thank the Lord for the privilege of living in the greatest country in the world. For your own enjoyment, sing “God Bless America.” It is truly the land we love.