The Twenty-Six-Year-Old Who Said "Go

On July 20, 1969, alarms started blaring inside Mission Control. The Apollo 11 lunar module's guidance computer was overloading, flashing 1202 program alarms that no one had encountered in a real mission. The entire moon landing — years of work, billions of dollars, the hopes of a nation — hung on a single decision.

Steve Bales was twenty-six years old. As the guidance officer, the call was his. Abort or continue. He had seconds. Bales knew that software engineer Margaret Hamilton had designed the computer's operating system to prioritize essential tasks and shed the rest under overload. He trusted the code. He trusted the engineer who wrote it. He spoke one word into his headset: "Go."

Neil Armstrong touched down on the lunar surface ninety seconds later.

Courage rarely looks like the absence of alarm bells. More often, it looks like hearing every alarm and choosing to trust what you know is true. God told Joshua, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). He never promised the alarms would stop ringing. He promised He would be there when they did.

You may be facing a moment right now where everything in you screams to abort — to pull back and play it safe. But the God who engineered the universe has already accounted for your overload. Trust the Engineer. Say "Go."