SURVIVING A MOON CRASH & JESUS IN THE GARDEN - April 2025
- Cynthia Zager Godwin
- Apr 9
- 5 min read
In this newsletter:
If you crashed on the Moon, what you take in order to survive?
Jesus in the Garden – read this if you read nothing else!
Writer’s Corner
MOON CRASH! WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE TO SURVIVE?
One of the first science courses I taught at a public high school was Earth Science. This is a fun course because students learned about earthquakes, weather, the oceans, rocks (they hated that unit), the planets and stars.
I loved teaching science labs because it was a chance for students to practice what they’d learned. It also allowed me to get to know my students better in an informal setting. Oftentimes, I’d make up my own labs so they were more in line with what my students learned.
“The Moon Crash Survival Lab,” as I called it, was one of my students’ favorites. I printed a series of real maps of Earth’s Moon and gave the students a list of emergency supplies. I told the students their shuttle from Earth to the Moon crashed in the middle of the night. They had 24 hours to walk from the crash site to Moon Base Alpha. After that, their emergency oxygen would run out.
The students’ job was to decide which emergency supplies to take for their trip to Moon Base Alpha and which ones would slow them down and should be discarded.
My students’ lab grade was based on using their knowledge of Earth’s Moon to allow them to correctly choose what to take and what to leave behind. More importantly, students had to tell me WHY they were taking or leaving an item. That involved a lot of critical thinking. Last, they had to draw a route to Moon Base Alpha that didn’t take them over 5-mile-high mountains or through craters.
Points were given for each correct item taken or left behind, as well as a workable route back to the base.
What to take:
4 spacesuits – protection from -173°C (-280° F) temperatures on the night side
4 oxygen bottles, 24 hours of oxygen each - needed to breathe
100 meters of rope – in case someone falls in a crater in the dark
Map of the constellations (stars) – it’s dark, navigation is possible with the stars
Signal mirror – to signal the moon base or a passing shuttle
4 battery operated flashlights – to see where they're going in the dark
Binoculars – to check lights in distance are the base and not something else
What to leave behind:
8 liters of water – frozen solid and no way to drink in a space suit
food for four people, 3000 calories each - frozen solid, no way to eat
1 solar powered heating unit – it’s night on the Moon which lasts 2 weeks
1 battery operated heating unit – no air molecules, no transmission of heat
Magnetic compass – Moon lacks a magnetic field
4 oxygen burning signal flares – no oxygen on Moon, will not light
Matches – no oxygen on Moon, will not light
1 solar powered radio and receiver – it’s night on Moon, lasts 2 weeks
2 liters of brandy – frozen solid and sharp senses required in a survival situation
It was always fun hearing why my students took some supplies and left other's behind.
One of the most difficult parts of the exercise for them to understand was how long
night on the Moon lasted. Since I crashed the students in the middle of the night on
the Moon, and night on the Moon lasts for TWO WEEKS, their night had one more
week to go before it was daytime. The lab was a wonderful way for students to
remember conditions on the Moon were far different from those on Earth.
Many students took the food and water. When I asked how they would eat or drink
in a space suit, they’d say, just lift the face shield (like it was a motorcycle helmet).
When I asked what they’d be breathing, their faces would change. Or a student
would pipe up that the food and water were frozen solid since it's so cold at night
on the Moon.
Students often took the solar-powered heater and radio. It was cold, they’d say, and
needed heat. Or they could use the radio to call the base to come and get them. If it
was daylight on the Moon, the radio was a good idea. Unfortunately, I crashed them
at night so neither the heater or radio worked since they relied on the sun for power.
If students mentioned calling the base for help, I'd give them half credit for thinking of it.
Many students took the brandy. I mentioned that in a survival situation, lugging
around useless supplies was not a good idea. Also, having your senses dulled wasn't
smart either. I did give a group half-credit one year for taking the brandy. They were
adamant they wouldn't drink it until they got back to the base. Then they said they’d
have a party for making it back alive. I appreciated their optimism and the thought
they put into the lab.
JESUS IN THE GARDEN
Since Good Friday and Resurrection
Sunday are right around the corner,
this is the perfect time to share a
podcast by Timothy Keller that my
husband found. It’s one of the most
heart-wrenching talks I’ve ever
heard. I urge you to listen to it on
Good Friday. I was so overwhelmed
at the love our Savior has for us I
had to listen to it twice.
In the podcast, Keller says Jesus asked the disciples to pray for him. In the next breath he said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matt. 26:38 NIV) Jesus asks for prayer and then says he feels like he’s going to die right then and there. What’s going on?
Keller says the Father was showing the Son, who has been in intimate communion with the Father and Spirit from eternity - that means never, ever separated from them - what Jesus was going to experience on the cross. That in Jesus’s hour of greatest need, he is going to be abandoned. He is going to “die a death such as no human being has ever died.” Please listen for yourself. It is terribly moving.
I got to thinking about our Savior’s overwhelming love for us and remembered what he said on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus said “my God” twice. Permit me change it to what I think Jesus was saying. “My God the Father, My God the Spirit, why have you broken communion with Me?”
It reminds me of Stuart Townend’s song, “How Deep the Father’s Love,”
copyright 1995. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKDujmtyAVk
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
WRITER’S CORNER
The Lady Lits writers group's own Susan Marie Graham published her first
novel in a series of eight on the fruits of the Spirit. We are thrilled for her!!
Check it out on Amazon. It's a really engaging story, by the way.
What's her novel about? Here's the summary:
Romance? What romance? Out-of-work Dana is determined not to sway from her
commitment to stay unattached. With a special needs child, dwindling bank
account and parental pressure, her plate is full. But her growing feelings for
anxiety-ridden Ethan complicate life, until he sparks a tragic accident that forces
her hand. Now she has to decide the real source of love in her life.
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