The Gideons

         The International Space Station (ISS) was in the news this past 'Easter Sunday' as the private company owned SpaceX Dragon freighter successfully docked with it carrying nearly 5000 pounds of experiments and supplies for the international crew. The following blog entry is from May 31st of 2010:

The Gideons

         The Apollo 8 mission of 1968 saw, for the first time, man leave the gravitational pull of the earth and come under the same force of another heavenly body. Frank Borman commanded the mission that included James Lovell and William Anders. On Christmas Eve, on the ninth orbit of the Moon, with the world watching on television, Commander Borman read the first ten verses from the book of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
The earth was without form, and void; darkness was on the face of the waters.
Then God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Then God said; "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (NKJV)

         There was a Japanese correspondent watching this on television from his hotel and called NASA for a copy of the script that the astronaut was reading. He was asked where he was calling from and told to look in the desk drawer and he would see it in the first ten verses of the first book, Genesis, of the Gideons Bible that would be there. The correspondent was impressed that NASA Public Relations would leave him an advance copy of the script! (I believe this story appeared in a Parade Magazine)

         In 1982, as a new Christian, my wife and I were on our first and only cruise. (We have had another since then) As we rounded the western end of Cuba there was a storm that rocked the boat so much that the passengers could do nothing but sit in their cabins. Too new of a believer to even bring a Bible with me, I opened the desk drawer and there was the Gideon Bible. I opened it and read the first verses that my eyes came upon. It was the 93rd Psalm. As the boat rocked, I read:

The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;

The LORD is clothed,

He has girded Himself with strength.

Surely the world is established,

so that it cannot be moved.

Your throne is established from of old;

You are from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O LORD,

The floods have lifted up their voice;

The floods lift up their waves.

The LORD on high is mightier

Than the noise of many waters,

Than the mighty waves of the sea. (this as items were sliding off our table)

Your testimonies are very sure;
Holiness adorns Your house,
O LORD, forever. (NKJV)

         I'm writing this blog from a motel room and the ever present Gideons Bible is in the drawer. They have distributed over 1.5billion Bibles since 1908 and I am reminded of Romans 10:15b:
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. (NIV)

Note: The figure today (2014) is 1.8 billion!