The View From Apollo 8

On Christmas Eve, 1968, astronaut William Anders peered through the small window of Apollo 8 as the spacecraft rounded the far side of the moon. What he saw made him gasp. Rising above the barren lunar horizon was Earth — brilliant blue, swirled in white, impossibly alive against the black void. Anders grabbed his camera and took the photograph now known as "Earthrise." Later he said, "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."

The three astronauts — Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell — took turns reading from Genesis 1 as millions listened back home. For a few transcendent minutes, they saw creation as no human being ever had before. But they could not stay in orbit forever. They had to fire their engines, endure the brutal heat of reentry, and splash down into the ordinary Pacific Ocean. The mission required them to come back.

When Peter, James, and John ascended that mountain with Jesus, they witnessed glory that rearranged everything they thought they knew. The face of Christ shone. Moses and Elijah appeared. The voice of the Almighty thundered from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him." Peter wanted to build shelters and stay forever. But the vision was never meant to be a destination. It was meant to be a commission. They had to come back down — carrying what they had seen into the valley where suffering and confusion waited. Every glimpse of glory God grants us is fuel for the road ahead.