Editors note: This essay has been adapted from the new book, “One nation always among God: profiles in Christian courage” By Senator Tim Scott. Copyright 2025 by Timothy Scott. Published with permission from Broadside Books and HarperCollins Publishers.
This is just one of my favorite stories from Jim Lovell. Two years earlier, Jim had been on a new historical mission. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft that would leave the orbit of the earth, to reach the moon, wander around and return safely to earth. This mission was crucial in testing the navigation and communication systems of the spacecraft over long distances, so that the technology and procedures were robust enough for a final moon landing. And although that mission could easily justify its own chapter, what I like the most about it happened on Christmas Eve from 1968.
NASA recognized the historical meaning of every word that was said about the broadcast of this early mission, especially because there was probably a huge audience of families at home for Christmas. But when Frank Borman, the mission commander, a NASA public relations officer asked something to say, that civil servant only said that it should be ‘something suitable’.
But how could Borman find the words that are suitable for such a special moment? At the height of the Cold War, he felt honored that his government trusted him to choose his own words – what a contrast with the hyper -controlled cosmonauts of the Soviet Union! – But when it came to it, everything he could think of saying wasn’t worth the opportunity. He asked a friend, who in turn consults a friend who worked at the Bureau of the Budget.
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The answer eventually came when that official asked his wife. Christine Laitin, a former French resistance member and Ballerina and Ballerina, had the answer.
Senator Tim Scott’s latest book details stories he found from Christian Courage. (Getty Images)
“Go back to the beginning,” she said.
So that’s exactly what they did. In a time when collective is experienced by almost every American citizen, astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman and Bill otherwise took turns the first 10 verses from the book Genesis. This historical broadcast was heard by countless millions of people on earth, making it one of the most watched television broadcasts at the time.
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“” In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And the earth was without shape and invalid, and the darkness was on the face of the depth. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And God said, there was light: and there was light. And God saw the light of the dark. You all bless to the right earth. ”
What a moment! The history of the United States is full of this kind of the Holy Spirit. Even the idea of going to space is so daring and visionary that it remained only in the field of imagination for centuries. Although many cultures have dreamed through history to reach the moon, it was the United States that changed reality of this dream. This monumental performance could only have happened in America.
Portrait of the crew of NASA’s Apollo 8, Florida, December 1968. Being depicted, from the left, command module Pilot James Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot William Anders and commander Frank Borman. (Photo by NASA/Interim Archives/Getty images)
This story is by no means an isolated phenomenon, but a recurring theme in American history. When they are confronted with adversity, Americans have consistently contracted to find solutions, overcome challenges and to appear stronger. This is the story of America! Every story I told in this book, the story I have lived personally, and the story that each of us is is the story of a winner. From the start of our nation, Americans have shown a remarkable capacity to unite and connect challenges frontally. As I just made in the previous chapter, thirteen colonies, each with its own interests and identities, came together to fight for independence against the most formidable military power of that time. The power of collective effort and shared goal was felt, so that the young nation drove to a heavily fought victory and laid the foundation for the United States.
Why is it important to remember these stories? Because this is who we are! No matter how big the obstacle is, we as a nation will overcome it. We will take on the challenge, use our ingenuity and achieve the impossible. These stories remind us of our resilience, our determination and our unyielding spirit. They also reflect the Jewish-Christian principles that have led us in our history and play a crucial role in every important performance. With unity, faith and perseverance, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
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But there is also a larger lesson to take from the experience of astronauts. Jim Lovell’s reaction to the space was not to find the earth relatively small and unimportant, but rather to appreciate more and more for the gift we received to be born completely. Jim felt generation in his heart when he looked at that retreating blue dot, hundreds of thousands of kilometers in the rearview mirror. Even in the depths of the space, astronauts worshiped.
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Presbyterian Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon and received permission from his church. “At the time,” he said later, “I couldn’t think of a better way to recognize the Apollo 11 experience than by thanks God.” So often we can only perceive our lack of gratitude when the thing we have taken for granted is thrown away. We only know what we have in the absence. Very few of us will be astronauts, but hopefully by reading their stories, we can restore our gratitude for what we naturally consider, without losing it. We have to study the lively photos of the cold and dead surface of the moon, and that famous photo of the earth that leads from over the edge of the bare surface of the moon to remind us what a gift our world really is.
The new book by the Republican Tim Scott South Carolina, “One Nation Always Under God: Profiles in Christian Courage”, will be released on August 5, 2025. (Published with permission from Broadside Books and HarperCollins Publishers)
It is not for nothing that King David felt his own insignificantness when he looked at the stars. He prayed to God:
“When I look at your heaven, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have put in place, what is the person you pay attention to him, and the son of the person you take care of him?” —Psalm 8: 3–4, ESV
And yet his last collection meals is one of humility and hope:
When they are confronted with adversity, Americans have consistently contracted to find solutions, overcome challenges and to appear stronger.
“Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.” —Psalm 8: 5, ESV
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The space is huge and beautiful, but at the end of the day people are the most important and valuable creation in it. It is knowledge of this fact that Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin could give the knowledge that David prophesied in another Psalm:
“Where can I get rid of your mind? Where can I flee for your presence? If I go to heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I get up on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the other side of the sea, your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me soon.
When I say: ‘Certainly, the darkness will hide and the light will be night around me, “even the darkness will not be dark for you; The night will shine like the day, because darkness is so light for you. ”
-Psalm 139: 7–12 NIV
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