About the Moon Beam network

The Moon Beam network began on the campus of Hope College in Holland, MI in the Spring of 1965. A group of friends were just finishing the school year and heading back home for summer vacation. We wanted to keep in touch, but understood that not everyone would be sending letters to everyone, and also that we could not always stop what we were doing and make a phone call.

Of course, this was all before the Internet, cell phones, and electronic social media. We decided we could use a “touch point,” something we could all have in common that would remind us of our commitment as friends, as Christians, and most of all as intercessors – people who pray for, with, and about other people. We thought about several kinds of tokens – the pocket-cross was popular around that time – but things-you-carry are easily lost. So too for things-you-wear. We finally decided to go for things-you-see. We mentioned trees, bridges, flowers, clouds, road signs, and then we found our inspired solution: The MOON!! It was a hot topic that year – Russian “cosmonauts” had just performed history’s first space walk, and the news was filled with stories about moon flights.

We realized that the moon was a thing everyone could see from a huge area of earth’s surface. Two of us could be thousands of miles apart and could be looking at the moon at the same time. That was the beginning, and for many years it remained just an idea cooked up by some college kids. To be honest, I can’t recall all of their names any longer, but if any of them remember that first decision to say “I see you in the moon” and remember a friend, then all of us are remembered. We had agreed to pray for each other every time we saw the moon or even a picture of the moon. It was a nice thought.

The idea came up again years later – probably around 1984-85 – and I decided to call it the Moon Beam Network. Again, not much happened with the concept. Occasionally a new person would be added to the people who knew about remembering friends and praying for them whenever we saw the moon, or an image of the moon. It stayed like that until the late 90′s. With better access to the Internet, the advent of e-cards, E-Mail giants like AOL and others, it was pretty easy to send out a message. After my wife and I moved to Hawaii in 2001, I began to send out sporadic “Aloha Friday Cards.” The cards were well-received, and it gradually grew into a weekly event.

Now a weekly message goes out to a good-sized group of subscribers, and the volume of subscriptions continues to grow. Thanks to the generous assistance of one Moon Beam Network member who is exceptionally talented in Information Technology, we now have a website to coordinate our communications. When you visit the site, I ask you to remember to thank God for this wonderful friend of the MBN, and when you read the MBN Prayer, remember you are praying for our benefactor as well as all the members of the MBN – past, present, and future.

We’ve also added and Intercessory Prayer List that is updated often as well as a section for three volumes of poetry. We hope you will visit those often as well. You can enter your email address in the Comments section (Scroll down to “Leave a Reply”) to contact Chick Todd to SUBSCRIBE TO THE MAILING LIST. YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WILL NOT BE VISIBLE TO ANY OTHER THAN THE ADMINISTRATOR. Best of all, we also now have Reader View available for every post on this site! Just look for the Reader View Rectangle at the top of every page.

We strongly encourage readers and subscribers to share these messages. Once we hit the send button when they go out via email, or the Publish button when they are on this WordPress.org blog, the essays belong to God, and HE can direct them wherever they are wanted or needed. In fact, we know that some persons send them to their friends, to their Pastors, to other clergy and religious, and even print links in their church bulletins. Please share often. We thank you for your participation in this ministry! And of course, thank you to our sponsors who generously keep this blog-site open.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

A Birthday Moon~~11/20/1946 0036 Hrs

As we have said for the past 45 years (and counting) “See you in the moon!”

Please join us daily in praying the Moon Beam Network Daily Prayer.

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

About the Moon Beam network

The Moon Beam network began on the campus of Hope College in Holland, MI in the Spring of 1965. A group of friends were just finishing the school year and heading back home for summer vacation. We wanted to keep in touch, but understood that not everyone would be sending letters to everyone, and also that we could not always stop what we were doing and make a phone call.

Of course, this was all before the Internet, cell phones, and electronic social media. We decided we could use a “touch point,” something we could all have in common that would remind us of our commitment as friends, as Christians, and most of all as intercessors – people who pray for, with, and about other people. We thought about several kinds of tokens – the pocket-cross was popular around that time – but things-you-carry are easily lost. So too for things-you-wear. We finally decided to go for things-you-see. We mentioned trees, bridges, flowers, clouds, road signs, and then we found our inspired solution: The MOON!! It was a hot topic that year – Russian “cosmonauts” had just performed history’s first space walk, and the news was filled with stories about moon flights.

We realized that the moon was a thing everyone could see from a huge area of earth’s surface. Two of us could be thousands of miles apart and could be looking at the moon at the same time. That was the beginning, and for many years it remained just an idea cooked up by some college kids. To be honest, I can’t recall all of their names any longer, but if any of them remember that first decision to say “I see you in the moon” and remember a friend, then all of us are remembered. We had agreed to pray for each other every time we saw the moon or even a picture of the moon. It was a nice thought.

The idea came up again years later – probably around 1984-85 – and I decided to call it the Moon Beam Network. Again, not much happened with the concept. Occasionally a new person would be added to the people who knew about remembering friends and praying for them whenever we saw the moon, or an image of the moon. It stayed like that until the late 90′s. With better access to the Internet, the advent of e-cards, E-Mail giants like AOL and others, it was pretty easy to send out a message. After my wife and I moved to Hawaii in 2001, I began to send out sporadic “Aloha Friday Cards.” The cards were well-received, and it gradually grew into a weekly event.

Now a weekly message goes out to a good-sized group of subscribers, and the volume of subscriptions continues to grow. Thanks to the generous assistance of one Moon Beam Network member who is exceptionally talented in Information Technology, we now have a website to coordinate our communications. When you visit the site, I ask you to remember to thank God for this wonderful friend of the MBN, and when you read the MBN Prayer, remember you are praying for our benefactor as well as all the members of the MBN – past, present, and future.

We’ve also added and Intercessory Prayer List that is updated often as well as a section for three volumes of poetry. We hope you will visit those often as well. You can enter your email address in the Comments section (Scroll down to “Leave a Reply”) to contact Chick Todd to SUBSCRIBE TO THE MAILING LIST. YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WILL NOT BE VISIBLE TO ANY OTHER THAN THE ADMINISTRATOR. Best of all, we also now have Reader View available for every post on this site! Just look for the Reader View Rectangle at the top of every page.

We strongly encourage readers and subscribers to share these messages. Once we hit the send button when they go out via email, or the Publish button when they are on this WordPress.org blog, the essays belong to God, and HE can direct them wherever they are wanted or needed. In fact, we know that some persons send them to their friends, to their Pastors, to other clergy and religious, and even print links in their church bulletins. Please share often. We thank you for your participation in this ministry! And of course, thank you to our sponsors who generously keep this blog-site open.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —

at your service, Belovéd!

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

A Birthday Moon~~11/20/1946 0036 Hrs

As we have said for the past 45 years (and counting) “See you in the moon!”

Please join us daily in praying the Moon Beam Network Daily Prayer.

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.