House Church Talk - friends in high places - about 250 miles high

[David Anderson]

 Hey talkmasters,

Sunday is our sharathon day when the microphones are opened to just about 
anything. I wanted to mention the Christian music CD that survived the 
recent explosion of the Space Shuttle. It floated down to the earth and 
was found, then delivered to the former shuttle Commander's wife. She, in 
turn gave it to artist Steve Green.

Look at what a family guy Commander Husband was. He really lived up to 
his name.

     David Anderson

----- The Singer and the Astronaut

  Recording artist Steve Green remembers Columbia commander Rick Husband 
as a devoted believer‹and a dear friend.

Steve Green, the well-known Christian singer and recording artist, was 
supposed to perform at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, North Carolina, 
on February 1, but something happened that Saturday morning that altered 
his concert plans.

At about 9 A.M. Eastern Time, Green's good friend Rick Husband, the 
commander of the space shuttle Columbia, and six fellow astronauts 
perished when their vehicle disintegrated over Texas, 16 minutes before 
it was scheduled to land.

Husband, 45, and Columbia's payload commander Michael Anderson, 43, were 
members of Grace Community Church, an interdenominational charismatic 
church in the Houston area.

"I knew that it wouldn't be the concert I had planned," Green told 
Christian Reader four days after the tragedy. "I knew it would be 
different. It became a concert dedicated to Rick. All of a sudden someone 
I had a friendship with had been taken in an extraordinary and very 
difficult way. The entire nation was not only focused, but consumed with 
the tragedy."

Green, 46, who met Husband during one of his concerts just months before 
the astronaut's first shuttle mission in May 1999, says the concert 
became "a time of reflection, mourning, reevaluation, quietness, and 
worship."

"I shared some things that night which I never thought I'd share 
publicly‹things about Rick that have impacted my life," says Green, who 
was invited to sing by Husband at a reception for him before his 1999 and 
2003 missions. "It wasn't just a memorial for Rick. It was lessons that I 
had learned from Rick's life and ways that he had challenged and pointed 
me towards Christ."

Green, who attended the memorial service at the Johnson Space Center in 
Houston for the astronauts, says Husband "very naturally but without 
hesitation gave a witness of his love for and faith in Christ."

"The team and crew he had command over was made up of people of different 
beliefs and backgrounds, and yet he did not hesitate to, in a very 
natural way, express his faith," Green explains.

He continues, "I was told by his spacesuit technician that right after 
they helped Rick put on his spacesuit and all the other astronauts were 
ready, they walked down a long hallway. But before they reached the media 
area, Rick stopped and prayed for each of his crew members. The 
technician said in all of his years at NASA, he had never seen a 
commander pray for his crew."

During Columbia's launch on January 16, which Green attended, he says he 
heard communications between Mission Control in Houston and Husband, 
which also told of Husband's bold, yet unassuming faith.

"It was T-minus one, or two minutes before takeoff, and someone from 
Mission Control made a comment about the launch being on a spectacular 
day," recalls Green, whose stories about Husband were chronicled in 
widely circulated e-mails by Christians who attended his February 1 
concert.

"Rick's immediate response was, 'The Lord has given us a perfect day,'" 
Green adds. "What a simple and profound acknowledgement that nothing is 
by accident. Š The thing about Rick is he could say those things. He 
wasn't despised for them because of the gentleness and genuineness of his 
life. People around him knew he loved them and cared for them. It was 
just part and parcel of Rick."

During his February 1 concert, Green showed a video of Husband's life, 
which was put together by the astronaut's wife, Evelyn. The video 
featured "God of Wonders," a song included on Green's latest album, Woven 
in Time.

He continues, "In an e-mail he sent to me from space, Rick said that as 
he looked out the window while listening to that song, he was overwhelmed 
that God created such a huge and beautiful universe, but that he still 
shows regard and love for each one of us. Rick told me that brought tears 
to his eyes."

Husband often remarked that being a husband and father were his most 
important jobs in this world. Green says after the tragedy, Evelyn told 
him that despite his busy life as an astronaut, her husband took the time 
to create 17 individual daily-devotional videos for their two children to 
watch during Columbia's 16-day mission.

"He understood that one of his primary responsibilities in life was to 
disciple his own children," says Green, his voice filling with heaviness. 
"His absence leaves a void. As quiet and unassuming as he was when he 
talked to his fellow astronauts, his life made a powerful impact with 
those around him‹with me especially."

from www.christianitytoday.com/cr/2003/003/2.34.html