Footprints on the Moon

“I felt very special when I looked down at my footprints on the moon. The scientists said that they would be there for a million years. Looking up I could see the earth the size of a marble. It was so beautiful and so far away, and yet, I felt strangely at home on the moon.
When we left the earth, we carried a microfilmed copy of a prayer covenant. It was signed by those in my church.
After returning to earth, people around the world told me, “I prayed for you.”
I was aware of that power on the moon. The days I spent on the moon were very exciting. Not because I was there but because God was there. I could feel His presence. There were difficult times when I prayed and the answer was immediate. “He was here because of your prayers,” I have told so many.
God guided us to the discovery of the white rock. “The Genesis Rock.” It was a modern day revelation. The rock was sitting on another rock almost free from dust. It was lifted up and gleaming in the sunlight. It seemed to be saying, “Here am I, take me!” God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. This was a mountaintop experience.
My valley experience was in 1961. I had just graduated from test pilot school and considered myself one of the “hottest” pilots in the sky. One morning as I was flying with a student in a light aircraft, we crashed. The plane did not burn, but we were seriously injured — broken legs, broken jaw, many teeth gone, concussion, multiple lacerations. When I awakened in the hospital, doctors told me I probably would not fly again. You can imagine my despair.
I called out to God, “Why did this happen to me?” As I lay in the hospital, I had much time to pray. I prayed for understanding and healing. I knew God loved me. I had invited Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior when I was eleven years old. God made it possible for me to fly again.
My love for going fast and high led me to the space program. I prepared for five years for that one flight. It was preparation of body, mind and spirit. In 1971, ten years after the near tragic accident, I was ready to go to the moon.
When our mission returned, I thanked the men who designed and built our spacecraft, those who helped us operate the systems during the flight, those fellow Americans who payed for our trip, those dear friends around the world who had prayed for our success, and I thanked God for allowing us to leave the earth and explore a portion of His heavens.
The flight medallions carried by Apollo 15 have the following inscription, “Man’s flight thru life is sustained by the power of his knowledge.” Now I know my flight through life has been sustained by the power of my knowledge of Jesus Christ.
When I was on the moon, I was inspired to quote from Psalm 121. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help?” I knew my help was coming from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. He made the moon and made it possible for Jim Irwin to place his footprints there.
I believe Jesus Christ walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon. Just as surely as He walked 2000 years ago, He wants to walk today in your life. All you have to do is call upon Him. He wants you to have life and have it more abundantly. John 10:10. You do this by acknowledging your need of a Savior. Your first prayer must be, “Lord, help me a sinner”, and then invite Him into your life by faith.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” John 14:6.
I will pray that as you read this you will yield your life to the Master and let Him guide your footprints.”
In 1972, Colonel James B. Irwin founded High Flight Foundation, a Christian foundation dedicated to share the Good News that “God walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.”

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