John Glenn’s faith grew stronger in space
By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS -- December 14, 2016)
-- As an American astronaut he gained heroic stature when he became the
first man to orbit the earth aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. Previously,
he won five Distinguished Flying Crosses in World War II, and years
later went on to become a U.S. Senator from Ohio.
Perhaps
less well known is that he was a man of deep Christian faith. When he
again left the bounds of earth (on December 8th), this time at the age
of 95, he passed into the arms of his Savior, Jesus Christ.
He
was one of the pioneering astronauts of the Mercury program at a time
when space travel was inherently risky. He said he prayed every day
during that time. Those prayers were needed on Glenn’s historic first
orbits in space.
During
the return on February 20, 1962, Glenn’s heat shield was thought to
have come loose and many believed it might fail during re-entry, which
would cause Glenn’s capsule to be incinerated in its fiery descent.
Glenn
was instructed to take manual control of the capsule and described “a
real fireball outside” as he re-entered the atmosphere. Thankfully, his
and many other prayers were answered when he splashed down safely in the
Caribbean.
Shortly
after his flight, he delivered a sermon, “Why I Know There is a God,”
that described his enlarged perspective on God as a result of the
mission.
In
his message, he marveled at the size of the universe. “Our galaxy is
some 100,000 light years in diameter…we realize how difficult it is to
visualize the tremendous scale of the universe beyond our solar system.
The limits of the telescopically observable universe extend at least two
billion light years from us in all directions,” he told his listeners
in 1962.
Then
he expressed awe at discoveries from the microscopic level. “Come back
to what we know of atomic particles, the smallest particles known. Atoms
have a great similarity to our solar system in that they have electrons
rotating about a nucleus in regular patterns.”
“Now
what is the point I am making?” he asked. “It is the orderliness of the
whole universe about us, from
the120217052709-john-glenn-1962-orbit-story-top smallest atomic
structure to the most enormous thing we can imagine.”
1)
John Glenn, then 77, waves as he leaves the Operations and Check out
building at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on October 29, 1988, in
route to board the US space shuttle Discovery as part of the seven-man
crew. 2) President Obama presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to
John Glenn in May of 2012 at the White House. 3) Mark Ellis
About the writer: Mark Ellis is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from around the world.
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