dark side of the moon...

I was watching a PBS show the other night about the Apollo 8 project - the first time that people orbitted the moon. It was a great show.

Before that show, I reflected with a few people that I have felt like I have been on the dark side of the moon - thinking back to the movie Apollo 13.

So to see that imagery again was striking for me.

It's that place when the space capsule has been caught by the moon's gravity and begins to orbit. As it goes around the moon, to the dark side, it looses all communication with earth. Silence.

In the background of the narrator of the show, I heard the lone voice: Apollo 8, Houston. Apollo 8, Houston. Every 30 seconds. That was his job...to keep putting it out there until there was finally a crackling response...Houston, Apollo 8. Then relief and open channel communication.

In this transition process, I've felt like that. I stepped out in faith, trusting what I could not see. But as I let go of one handle, I felt like I slipped out of communication. Not that God wasn't there or even still talking...but it was time to trust. I had to trust that the trajectory of gravity would continue to pull me around the dark side of the moon and back into a place where I could see more clearly.

The dark side of the moon is a scary place. If you choke and hit the thrusters to speed things along, you'll break out of the moon's gravity and head into deep space with no chance of recovery...lost. But if you simply trust and hold steady...one step at a time...then you'll hear the voice again.

I don't think I'm in full view of earth yet. But I hear the crackling voice of Houston once again. And it won't be long now.