Saturday

“In the day of my trouble I will call upon You,

For You will answer me.”

~Psalm 86:7~

Mrs. Annie Bell Harrell will have the needed procedure on January 7th.  Please pray for her in the meantime.  Also, pray for her family and for the medical staff that will be working with her.

KneEmail

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2.10

Mike Benson, Editor

MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1970, dawned as a quiet day in the news…

None of the news stories had an particular sense of urgency–a small plane crashed in Iowa, the anti-war movement continued to grow, people blamed John and Yoko’s marriage for the breakup of the Beatles, the Senators beat the Red Sox 6-5, the Brewers swept a doubleheader with the White Sox 5-2, 16-2, and Apollo 13 rocketed its way to the moon.

This ho-hum day received a powerful jolt at 10:08 p.m. (EST).  The Apollo 13 flight–two days, seven hours, and 54 minutes into a routine mission–experienced a terrible mishap.  Moments later, from a distance of 203,980 miles, the now immortal words of astronaut Jack Swigert crossed the void of space and crackled over the speakers of Mission Control: “OK, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”  In disbelief, the controllers radioed back, “This is Houston, Say again please.”  Jim Lovell then spoke five words that confirmed the alarm: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

Apollo 13’s five-word message galvanized NASA into action and arrested the attention of an otherwise distracted public.

Amazingly, the next day, both the House and Senate passed resolutions calling on the American people to pray.  At St. Peter’s Square, the pope led 50,000 people in prayer for the safe return of the astronauts.  In New York City, thousands of people gathered to read the news headlines and to pray in Times Square.  Walter Cronkite summarized everyone’s concern: “Perhaps never in human history has the entire world been so united by such a global drama.”  As the world watched and prayed, NASA raced to find a solution and eventually did succeed in returning the crew of Apollo 13 safely to Earth.

The words “Houston, we’ve had a problem” communicated powerfully in 1970.  Today we need to articulate an even greater dilemma, “Christians, we have a problem.”  Many of us are going about our lives, ignoring the millions of desperate, unrecognized cries for help.  We’re letting an increasing number of our neighbors and friends die without the life-giving news of Jesus Christ.  Our words may affirm our concern, but our behavior indicates that that we really don’t care. Tom Clegg and Warren Bird, “Reaching People Who Don’t Believe They Are Lost,” Missing in America, 50-51

1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”

Romans 10.1-2

Have a great day!  Make preparations to be in the Lord’s House tomorrow.

Anna Lee