What does an astronaut do immediately after nine months in space? Go to church, of course.
Butch Wilmore and his Space-X crewmate Suni Williams returned to earth after their epic and unplanned hermitage on the International Space Station March 18, and on March 23 Wilmore was back in church—giving thanks to God for his reunion with his family, no doubt, but also inspiring the people who know the astronaut as elder Butch. And the rest of us, too.
“There was a bit of excitement after he came, but he doesn’t want to be the focus,” said his pastor Tommy Dohn, “although we are all kind of starstruck.”
Wilmore and his family have been active members of Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas for 17 years. (It’s one of ours.) Located near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the church has had NASA-connected people through the years, but the man who inadvertently saw his 8-day trip to the ISS turned into a 286-day record clearly stands out.
If not for that achievement, then for his humility. And his faith.
Wilmore says connections to the church got him through the uncertainties of being stranded with seven astronauts from several countries. “It was part of what I need as a believer in Jesus Christ to continue that focus,” Wilmore told KPRC TV. “It assisted me day in and day out because I need that fellowship, even though it’s fellowship from afar.”
His testimony in a satellite news conference shortly before the flight home was remarkable. The video showed his willingness to witness to reporters about his relationship with his Savior. But what some of us wanted to know was how often he spoke about Jesus to his shipmates? And did he pray over those freeze-dried dinners? More of the story is coming out.
Yes, Wilmore led devotions on the space station. He joined the crew in singing “Amazing Grace,” he told CBN. And in a NASA press briefing April 1, the Baptist elder-astronaut said he live streamed worship services from his Texas home church and from Grace Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, which is pastored by a friend. He said staying connected to the church was “vital.”
“The Word of God continually infilling me, I need it,” Wilmore said. “My pastors are the finest pastors on—or off, in this case—the planet. And to tie in and to worship with my church family was vital. I mean, it’s part of what makes me go.”
As for the extended stay in space, Jesus “teaches us when he says in his word about being content in all situations because he’s working out his plan and his purposes for his glory and our good, and I believe that because the Bible says that.
“It doesn’t mean always happy, it doesn’t mean there’s no pain, but content and knowing that God’s in control; a sovereign God’s in control, working out his plan and his purpose,” Wilmore said.
Back on earth with his family and his church family, the astronaut is applying the lessons learned in space. “Who’s lived a life without sorrow? Who’s lived a life without challenges?” he said. “It grows us, we learn from it, and that’s the focus that I try to take from it: What’s the Lord trying to show me?”
—by Eric Reed, with interviews from KPRC, CBN, and Christian Post