FOOTPRINTS LEFT UPON THE SURFACE OF TIME

There are footprints on the moon, left 25 years ago by the first Apollo astronauts, that will remain for thousands of years. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," said Neil Armstrong, as he jumped in slow motion from the last step of the lunar module onto the surface of the Bay of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. Usually ephemeral markings of coming and going -- of being -- his footprints draw into stark relief the questions of meaning: of space, time and mankind's relationship to them.

It was a different era that sparked the moon mission, a $25 billion mobilization of technology and talent that brought together multitudes of scientists, engineers and technicians. In 1961, when a young, new President Kennedy announced the goal of being first to the moon, it was seen as a bold response to the ominous Soviet Union's forays into space. America was flush with postwar prosperity. American self-confidence and its sense of destiny had yet to be shaken by assassinations, urban riots, rampant crime, the Vietnam War and a mounting burden of debt.

Today, the Soviet Union no longer exists, and the Cold War and its high-tech race to space have been replaced by problems on Earth that appear at first smaller, but are in fact proving more difficult to solve. Over a million people have died in Rwanda in the past three months alone. Poverty and disease remain prevalent in the United States. The promise of the right mix of technology and determination to solve all our problems seems less sure.

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The world last week again turned toward the heavens, this time looking at the greatest planet in our universe, Jupiter, as it was pummeled by the fragments of a comet elegantly described "a string of pearls." But these fragments weren't pearls. They were mountains of the stuff of life -- frozen carbon, oxygen and nitrogen -- some wider than two miles in diameter.

Striking the atmosphere of Jupiter at a speed topping 130,000 miles per hour and instantly reduced to zero, these 21 mountains exploded in bursts of kinetic energy so powerful they sent up fireballs hotter than 250 million megatons of TNT. In a span of a few days, a comet that had been streaking through the void for millenniums was no more, gone, except for its own footprints -- black, earth-sized spots -- left upon the southern hemisphere of the Jovian atmosphere.

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Many today are unsure of what ultimate value the Apollo space program bestowed the United States -- or why a comet's collision with Jupiter is so profound. Certainly, many of the predictions that were sparked by the euphoria of the moon landing a quarter of a century ago have not come true. Few also question that the scientific accomplishments of the Apollo missions could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost by utilizing mechanical devices rather than men.

But what both the Apollo missions and our observation of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's collision with Jupiter have done is encouraged us to view ourselves and our own world differently, not as the center of the universe, but as an isolated part -- beautiful, magnificent and fragile.

Where do men and women fit into this spectacular creation, where mountains are destroyed in an instant? Simply, perhaps, seeking to leave a footprint ourselves.

Not often discussed is how close Apollo 11 came to fatally crashing as it approached the moon's surface 25 years ago. With the computer-guidance systems directing the lunar module directly to a perilous crater, Armstrong shut them off and took the controls himself. He braved the length of the crater, and landed the craft with only seconds of fuel remaining.

Neil Armstrong acted, and his imprint is on the moon today because of that.

By actions that might seem less courageous but aren't, others have left their imprint on this world. Through love and friendship, family and helping others, we make our own footprints here.

There is a passage in the Bible that warns: "Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away." The message of the reading is to do good while one can, to not seek out war, to avoid lust and adultery, to refrain from speaking evil, to seek grace and, most importantly, to serve God.

Today and tomorrow, where will we make our own footprints?