Locke Remembers Past Evils Of The World, Doubts Progress On That Front

July 18, 2019 at 12:56 a.m.

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The summer of 1969.  I had just finished sixth grade.  The whole nation was riveted in July as Americans were going to attempt to land on the Moon.  The late President Kennedy set the goal of a man landing on our nearest satellite and returning home.  

Our neighbor, Bessie Garwood, listened intently as I took my Aurora models of the command and lunar modules over to her kitchen and explained how we were going to get there.  Here was a woman in her 80s who had ridden across the Nebraska prairie in a covered wagon as a girl trying to comprehend what was happening.  She flew on an airliner one time to visit family in Texas.  

The world certainly changed in her lifetime. I excitedly said to her, “Can you believe men are going to the moon?” She sipped on her afternoon tea and took a bite from a cookie.  

“You know, Kenny,” she finally replied.  “I’m not sure man should go to the moon.  They sure have messed the Earth up!”  

I was a little deflated but knew she was intrigued with this historical voyage.  She had seen much pain in her life living as a widow for many years.  But she understood that we live in a sinful world.  Even with our greatest accomplishments mankind is fallen. Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  

During that same time we talked often about those “young boys” who were dying in Vietnam and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.  “This old world is just not getting any better,” she once lamented.  “Jesus is going to return soon.”  

Now I find myself sounding like Bessie. We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing but there is still so much hatred and evil.  The world certainly hasn’t gotten any better and it seems strange to talk about travel to another sphere.  Jesus is still our only hope and we are closer to His return now more than ever.

Ken Locke is community ministries director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw and director of the Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association. Have ideas for this column? Go to www.gwma.info.

The summer of 1969.  I had just finished sixth grade.  The whole nation was riveted in July as Americans were going to attempt to land on the Moon.  The late President Kennedy set the goal of a man landing on our nearest satellite and returning home.  

Our neighbor, Bessie Garwood, listened intently as I took my Aurora models of the command and lunar modules over to her kitchen and explained how we were going to get there.  Here was a woman in her 80s who had ridden across the Nebraska prairie in a covered wagon as a girl trying to comprehend what was happening.  She flew on an airliner one time to visit family in Texas.  

The world certainly changed in her lifetime. I excitedly said to her, “Can you believe men are going to the moon?” She sipped on her afternoon tea and took a bite from a cookie.  

“You know, Kenny,” she finally replied.  “I’m not sure man should go to the moon.  They sure have messed the Earth up!”  

I was a little deflated but knew she was intrigued with this historical voyage.  She had seen much pain in her life living as a widow for many years.  But she understood that we live in a sinful world.  Even with our greatest accomplishments mankind is fallen. Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  

During that same time we talked often about those “young boys” who were dying in Vietnam and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.  “This old world is just not getting any better,” she once lamented.  “Jesus is going to return soon.”  

Now I find myself sounding like Bessie. We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing but there is still so much hatred and evil.  The world certainly hasn’t gotten any better and it seems strange to talk about travel to another sphere.  Jesus is still our only hope and we are closer to His return now more than ever.

Ken Locke is community ministries director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw and director of the Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association. Have ideas for this column? Go to www.gwma.info.

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