A prayer for Us to Be Sent

 17Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

20I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

22I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one— 23I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.

Thoughts: This was Jesus great high priestly prayer before he was arrested.  It was His prayer for His disciples that they would be blessed by God with sanctification and unity. 
The crux of this prayer for us is this, "As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world."  God had sent His Son to the world.  He was not sent out of servitude, or meanness.  He was sent out of love and in love.  So Jesus sends us out of love and in love.  Christ loves all those He made and wants them to know His love.  He asks us to love them in return.  He sends us to them with the message that God has sent His Son.  God did not leave the world to die, but sends a Savior.  As we speak of His sent love, we provide salvation.  We are sent, but we need to go in response. 

Prayer:  Lord, as you send me, help me to go- one day- one act- one step at a time.       

More moon thoughts

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, the moon and the stars.  Genesis 1:1
We walk by faith not by sight.  2 Corinthians 5:7

Charles Duke is one of the 24 who walked on the moon.  He was the capcom for the Apollo 11 first moon landing and walk.  He was born in Charlotte and grown up in Lancaster, SC attending Lancaster High for awhile.  Later he graduated from the Naval Academy and MIT. 
    Wikipedia says this about Duke: Since 1978, Duke has been a committed born-again Christian. He wrote in his book that his temper, ego, single-minded devotion to work, and greed had ruined his relationship with his wife and his children, and his marriage teetered on the verge of divorce in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[8] Duke and his wife, who became a Christian before him, both credit religion with making their lives much happier. Duke also stated that his marriage and relationship with his children became considerably better soon after finding religion.^[9] He is active in prison ministry.^[10] 
   Duke says about his walk on the moon, "I used to think that going to the moon would be my greatest achievement.  But my walk with Jesus is more memorable because it is an everyday affair."
    Many of the astronauts had Christian faith.  Buzz Aldrin had communion before he stepped foot on the moon.  One crew of Apollo 8 read from Genesis 1:1 on Christmas Eve - "In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth."  Madeline Murray O'Hare, the famous atheist, threatened to sue NASA for allowing them to say that. 
    Some of the atheist cosmonauts of the U.S.S.R. noted that they did not find God in the heavens.  They were reminded that we walk by faith and not by sight.  The astronauts noted His presence: "If I go up the heavens- even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."  (Ps. 139).
   When Apollo 13 was in trouble, President Nixon asked all the nation to pray for them.  The whole world did from the Vatican to the Wailing Wall.  It was a unique moment when the world was united in prayer.  Nixon had a day of thanksgiving afterwards. 

Prayer: Lord, when I see the moon tonight, remind me of your presence, your great power and tremendous love.  Let me not take for granted my own smallness but also your own greatness. 

Thoughts on the 50th anniversary of the Moonlanding

The heavens are telling the glory of God; the earth proclaims the work of His hands.  (Psalm 19:1)

I watched in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the flight to the moon (July 20, 1969) a documentary "For All Mankind" with the astronaut's film footage and commentary.  I believe it was Neil Armstrong talking when the astronaut said, "In space I felt like an alien, but on the moon I felt at home even though the earth was a long ways away.  But I realized we were there by the grace of God.  I felt something other than what we could visually sense.  A spiritual presence was there.  Perhaps it was because so many people on the earth were focusing their attention on us- maybe sending signals to us somehow.  I sensed maybe like the first people on the earth- they were all alone but had a special communication.  We felt an unseen love.  We were not alone." 
    Buzz Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian church outside Houston.   He told his pastor that he wanted to convey that this event was more than electronics, computers, and rockets.  The pastor later told Guideposts magazine that "One of the principal symbols is that God reveals Himself in the common elements of everyday life." Aldrich poured grapejuice (with just enough gravity on the moon) into a chalice from his church.  He laid the elements out on a small table.  He asked the world listening in to take a few moments of silence and "to give thanks in his own individual way."  Then he read John 15:5 (one of my favorite verses): "I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit, for you can do nothing without me."  Aldrich partook after reading the verse and he said he felt a strong unity with his church back home and the church around the world. 
     Aldrich was a missionary of sorts.  He brought his faith with him to the moon.  Wherever we go, we need to do the same.  He did his work well and He was not embarrassed (despite pressure from Madeline Murray Ohaire) to speak a good word about the One who made the moon, the earth, and the heavens. 

Prayer: Lord, wherever I am may I remember you and your love for me.

[Part taken from "Nine things you should know About the Communion Service on the Moon" by Joe Carter on the GospelCoalition.com website. ]