Hope In Jesus Series

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From Wingclips.com - Apollo 13 - Jim Lovell commander of Apollo 13 “finding hope” In the midst of crisis - He talks about how he found his way home when everything went wrong!

I used today’s historical story to highlight “How we find hope in times of crisis.”

In our clip today we heard about a life event that happened to Jim Lovell commander of Apollo 13 (Who had the horrendous accident of the oxygen tank exploding and blowing a large chunk out of their space craft, that explosion should have ended those astronaut’s lives on Apollo 13, but God had another plan). All the astronauts thanked the Lord for bringing them home safely.

Jerry Woodfill was a Nasa engineer also on Apollo 13, He noted the whole world prayed for them and for a safe return – He said “I saw prayer make a difference during Apollo 13.” He noted how a unrehearsed script seemed to be guiding the drama and crisis.” Too many things happened that spared the astronauts lives – like a Nasa designed mechanism failing during the simple of functions which assisted in saving the lives of the Astronauts as well as timing of the incident and other unusual circumstances. The stuff they needed to save the astronauts was on board a miracle in itself. When they re-entered the atmosphere it was miracle they did not burn up and that a storm was right were they were landing but mysteriously shifted course at the time a teacher had her students praying for the storm to move For Jerry Woodfill, the spacecraft’s successful return has shaped more than his professional career. The event has resonated within him and shaped his view of God’s role in events. From www.houstonchronicle.com.

It’s important to note that Jim was also the Pilot of Apollo 8 which is another story filled with hope - I will share that story in a moment.

Jim’s story is about finding his way home when all seemed hopeless to a world looking for hope for Apollo 13. He shares about his fighter plane malfunctioning. He is in utter darkness he has a jammed radar, a false signal leading him away to Japan but not to his home base carrier and he is running out of fuel. He ponders ditching the plane when his instrument panel short circuited. Now he has no instruments to lead him. But then in utter darkness he sees a trail of light from algae that he knows has been churned up by a big ship. It’s Interesting that in his hopeless situation and with no tangible resources at his disposal another calamity opened up the door for him to get home. He knew he needed to follow the lighted trail to his ship. He did and it saved his life! The light from the algae also helped him land his plane without lights and instruments.

Sometimes God allows us to exhaust all our resources and our so-called knowledge before He decides to provide a way out of a crisis. It’s all part of the process of faith. It’s faith in the Lord that provides the hope we need to know what to do next, God is both the author of faith and the source of wisdom. The truth is when we submit to Him, we have access to these resources to help us navigate life’s journey’s.

Apollo 8’s message of hope:

The famous reading on Christmas eve of Apollo 8 as they are orbiting the moon for the first time was a message of hope to the world after a dismal year which witnessed protest over Vietnam, the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, racial riots rampaged the USA and then the Assassination Robert F Kennedy. But on Christmas Eve at the end of a rough year for the USA – Hope came over the airwaves on National television.

Play audio clip!

It was a simpler time — an era when the hearts of Americans were stirred as they heard the voices of their nation’s astronauts reading Scripture to the world from outer space. On December 23 a few years ago one of those astronauts, James Lovell, Command Module pilot of Apollo 8, recalled that moment on Christmas Eve 1968 when he, Commander Frank Borman, and Lunar Module pilot Bill Anders took turns reciting the first 10 verses of Genesis 1, the account of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth… the trio took a few moments to humbly acknowledge God as the Creator. It was a message of hope for a nation who needed it.

Genesis 1:1-10: The Beginning (The Scripture which was read)

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.