The Moon, JFK, and Christianity

"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."



Many of you... may not know this speech... in fact, I am willing to bet very few of you here really care about John F. Kennedy.

However, read this excerpt of this famous speech and know this. We chose. Here he says, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..." They were hard. We lost resources, men, and marriages going to the moon. A long time ago in Genesis man built the tower of Babel. You can bet that they didn't do it cause they thought it would be easy. They did it, because they wanted to push their limits, because they wanted to see what they could do.

Now wait a minute... God got upset about Babel. Yes he did. I'm not saying this world needs to start building a tower to heaven. I am saying that Christian's need to test their limits of faith. We need to push our boundaries. We need to give our own personal speech.

"Now some are saying why choose to witness to our relatives friends and neighborhood. Why choose to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, or make the lame walk, or make the deaf hear. Why is their an acquire the fire event in almost every state in the U.S.? We choose to reach the lost. We choose to reach the lost in this decade, in this generation, IN THIS LIFETIME, not because it is easy, but because it IS HARD, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

What is your speech today? Do you do things because they are easy or because it is hard and because it actually does test you?

One last example I pose to you...

When you work your body out. You do not stop because there is pain, but rather the pain tells you that you are actually doing something. That you are not just moving muscles but that they are being worked and strengthened.

So what will you do? Do you choose to go to the moon?


God Bless,
Derek