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Viewpoint from Colin Wooden 25/10/2019
 Colin Wooden
Elder, Bethel Gospel Hall
and
volunteer at the Great Yarmouth Seafarers Centre
as published in the Great Yarmouth Mercury
"The Eagle has landed"
It was the American president, Richard Nixon, who described the moment as 'the greatest week since creation', and in a phone call to two men 240,000 miles from earth, he said “'Because of what you have done, the heavens have become part of man's world”. It is difficult to believe it was 50 years ago (for those of us who have memories that go back that far!) that on the 20th. July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon leaving with us that unforgettable phrase about a 'small step' and a 'giant leap'. Between 1969 and 1972 five more lunar landings took place, with twelve astronauts leaving their mark on the moon's surface
 Contrary though to Richard Nixon's belief, the greatest moment since creation was not when men's feet touched the moon, but when God, in the person of His Son, touched earth. It was a defining moment in this world's history when "The Word [God's Son] became flesh and dwelt among us"; when "the Father sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world". This was the moment when God signalled His intention to intervene and put into motion His great rescue act as a solution to man's greatest need. Paul, when writing to churches in Galatia said "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son…to redeem…". The Lord Jesus, when speaking of Himself, said "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many". And again, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost"
 It is because God stepped in with His great plan of redemption that 'the heavens have become part of man’s world' and not because man reached the moon! The Lord Jesus, with some feeling, said "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that Where I am, there you may be also"
On an American chat show, the interviewee was asked, that, if he was marooned on a desert island, which of the three astronauts he would prefer to have with him. The answer was "Neil Armstrong, because somehow he would get us home". It is the Saviour who has promised to get us home when by faith we trust Him as Saviour
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