One Small Step for a Man...

Thirty-eight years ago this evening a man named Neil stood up on his hind legs and jumped out of his vehicle into a dusty vacuum a quarter of a million miles away and… did his job.

Of course, you know I’m talking about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. You may or may not know much about him. I only know a few stories.

One of my favorites is of the time he was testing a new flight vehicle, a precursor to the Lunar Module, when things went terribly wrong. The thing went out of control, flying crazier and crazier until, a few feet off the ground, Armstrong had to eject. He was so close to the ground that ejection could have easily killed him, but he survived without injury. After being checked out and released, he went back to his office … to do some paperwork.

Those of us who are mere mortals would perhaps have taken a day or two off – or at least the rest of the afternoon – to contemplate our mortality and relationship with God. Neil? He just did his job.

No wonder they chose him to be the first…

-Ed