A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
In 1961, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space. After the flight, he bragged, “I didn’t see God up there.” Of course he didn’t. He didn’t want to see God.
In April 2026, American astronauts in the Artemis II space flight traveled more than 250,000 miles to the dark side of the moon. That’s the furthest from the earth any human being has ever flown. When Ried Wiseman, the commander of the Orion module, saw the moon eclipse the sun, he said, “I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we are looking at right now.”
King David expressed that awe in Psalm 139:7-10:
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I go down to the grave, You are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
Even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
After the Orion capsule had splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts were brought to a navy ship. Wiseman asked for the chaplain on board. He said, “I’m not really a religious person but there was no other avenue for me to explain anything. When that man walked in – I’d never met him before in my life – but I saw the cross on his collar and I just broke down in tears.”
The cross: that infamous cross, invented to make the dying of a victim as prolonged and painful as possible. The cross: where the Lord Jesus died, praying for His tormentors, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The cross: when God said to all humanity, “I love you. I want to give you eternal life with Me and all the treasures of Heaven. Take this gift of salvation.” The cross: our only hope of forgiveness and Heaven.
Jesus’ death on that cross is described in Isaiah 53:5,6 so poignantly:
But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him;
and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
And the LORD had laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Thank God that Reid Wiseman found the answer to his aching heart: “There was no other avenue for me to explain anything.” No, nothing in the universe will make sense without the cross where Jesus died for all us sinners.