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Real Answers™
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Copyright: © 2007 Jan White
515 words

DON'T MISS THE NEWS OF THE GREATEST EVENT IN HISTORY

By: Jan White

Bishop Milton Wright and his wife, Susan, raised four sons and a daughter.  The minister would bring home souvenirs and trinkets to his boys that he found while traveling to churches.

Once he gave them a toy - a helicopter-like spinning top - that sparked the boys’ interest in flying.  Two of their sons eventually opened a bicycle shop in 1892 in Dayton, Ohio.  Reading about the death of a German glider pilot in 1896 led one brother to take an even greater interest in flying, studying all that had been written about the subject.

Four years later after many failed attempts, Wilbur and Orville Wright managed to get their “flying machine” off the ground.  On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.  They flew 120 feet in 12 seconds. 

The brothers immediately sent a telegram to their sister, Katherine, to tell her the great news.  It read, “Success four flights thursday morning, all against twenty-one mile wind, average speed thirty-one miles, longest 57 seconds, inform Press, home Christmas.”  (Punctuation added for clarity.)

When their telegram reached Dayton, Ohio, Katherine rushed to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message.  He read it and said, “How nice Katherine, you will have your brothers home for Christmas.”  The editor missed the big story that the Wright Brothers were the first to fly!

Only 66 years after the Wright Brother’s conquered the air, man landed on the moon.  Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission became the first to walk on the lunar surface July 20, 1969.

It’s estimated that Wilbur and Orville Wright spent around $1200 the four and half years they spent learning to fly.  In today’s money, it would cost approximately $100,000.  Apollo 11 astronauts traveled 470,000 at a cost of $350 million.

Our family once had the privilege of meeting Astronaut Jim Irwin who flew on the Apollo 15 mission to the moon.  He gave us a photo of himself standing near his lunar module, saluting an American flag that had been planted on the moon’s surface in July 1971.  On the picture, he wrote the words, “Jesus walking on the earth was more important than man walking on the moon.”

Over 2000 years ago, Jesus left the splendor and majesty of heaven to be born of a virgin in a manger in Bethlehem.  He came to earth for one purpose - to make a way for us to come to God.  Jesus said He came into the world “to seek and to save” the lost (Luke 19:10). 

It cost God His only Son and it cost His Son everything.  Jesus lived 33 years on earth, was crucified, buried, and then he rose again, so we could be forgiven and spend eternity in heaven.

During this busy time of the year, it’s easy to miss the most important story of Christmas – it’s His story.  Jesus is the reason for the season.  Tell others the Good News of His birth, the greatest event in history.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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