The Grip of God: February 6th Devotional

The Grip of God

Isaiah 41:13

February 6th Devotional

      On this day in 1971, astronaut Alan Shepard made space history.  Alan Shepard became a household name in 1961 when he became the first American in space.  Shepard was supposed to be the first person in space but the Russians just barely beat him because of flight cancelations.  His flight was a mere 15 minutes in comparison to Russia’s 108 minutes, and Shepard never actually entered orbit.  It took ten years for him to get another chance to go into space until he was finally put in command of the Apollo 14 mission, which almost didn’t happen because of the complications of the Apollo 13 mission.  Americans had already landed on the moon twice and Shepard was determined to do something that had never been done before.  Alan was an avid golfer and thought it would be a good mixture of pleasure and physics to hit a few balls on the moon.  He kept his plans totally secret.  He designed a custom-made club for his adventure.  It would be a normal 6-iron attached to a collapsible, telescopic tool that was used to collect moon rocks.  He hid the head of the club in his space suit and two golf balls in extra pair of socks.  He didn’t inform the other two crew members, Edgar Mitchell, and Stuart Roosa until after the rocket exited the earth’s atmosphere.  On this day Shepard hit two golf balls on the moon.  Hitting a golf ball on the moon proved to be extremely difficult because of the bulk of the spacesuit.  Alan shanked the first ball, only traveling about forty yards which earned him many jeers from the other  two astronauts, but the second ball was struck solidly and flew for what Shephard said: “for miles and miles.”  The ball actually probably traveled around 200 yards (600ish feet) but had a hangtime of around one minute.  The mission was a success and so was his interstellar golf game. 

      Shepard’s club now is at the USGA museum in New Jersey.  I’m not particularly good at golf on earth, for that matter I’m horrible at miniature golf.  I can’t imagine traveling to the moon would be any better.  Every good golfer learns a valuable lesson, how to grip the golf club.  Shepard struggled with that because of his suit.  The grip is how we hold onto the club.  Years ago Billy Graham was talking about the subject of someone having a grip on our life.  Billy said, “We will all grip something and we will all be gripped by something or someone.”  He’s absolutely right.  We are all gripped by something or someone.  For the believer, we can rest assured that we are gripped, and held closely by the Lord.  Isaiah 41:13 says “For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'  The text provides the image that God is holding onto the children of Israel, even during a time of struggle and doubt, even in the face of hardship and disappointment.  In a chaotic, ever-changing world we can often doubt God’s grip on our life.  But friend, rest assured that God has not loosened His grip on you.  He is holding you close to Himself.  Don’t allow outward circumstances to cause you to question God’s grasp on your life.  He’s not letting go.  He might be asking you to let go of certain things in your life and to hold onto Him, but He is not letting go of you.