In 1970 the mission of Apollo 13 to land on the moon was aborted their after an oxygen tank exploded. Commander Lovell’s “Houston we have a problem” captured the world’s attention as they were glued to their TVs. Shortly thereafter they lost all communication with Houston.
With limited power and loss of cabin heat the crew jury-rigged the carbon dioxide system for their survival. Lovell‘s crew manually steered the spacecraft to earth by keeping their main focus on the earth as they entered earths’ atmosphere. The crew returned safely to earth to an international applause.
The lives of the Apollo 13 depended on keeping their focus on the mission. Most of us want to keep our focus on the things that really matter in life, but we lose our perspective, we get easily distracted. Like the Apollo 13 crew our lives can be at stake when we lose our focus. Some of us can attest to this.
If we want our lives to be an adventure and really make a difference we need to align and engage our life mission with God’s. A lot of us really want that, but we find it difficult to experience God’s purposes in our lives. Let’s explore why we get stuck?
We feel inadequate or incapable.
All of us have made mistakes. It seems everyone wants to hide something about their lives. Failure is an event not a person.
Winston Churchill was asked, “What most prepared you to lead Great Britain through World War II?” For a period of time, Great Britain stood virtually alone against Nazi Germany as it dominated the Western World. Churchill’s response: “It was the time I repeated a class in grade school.” The questioner said, “You mean you flunked a grade?” Churchill said, “I never flunked in my life. I was given a second opportunity to get it right.”
The loss of lives during Jonas Salk’s search for a polio vaccine and Thomas Edison’s thousands of experiments for the electric light are reminders that we can learn how to fail successfully. As Churchill adamantly told Britain during the war, “Never give up, never, never!” and neither should we!
We can feel so inadequate that we suspect people and ourselves of the worst. Hey, remember God loves you! You matter to Him! God’s love is not dependent on things going well; rather, it is love that was given “even while we we’re still yet sinners.”
Despite what you may think or feel you were in God’s heart and plans before you were even born and He created you to experience life to the fullest. Ephesians 1:4; Psalm 139:16
For we are God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
We doubt that God can use us.
Like the reluctant Moses and the prophet Jeremiah we too can feel that we are not the ones for the job. God, choose anybody, but me. Remember last time God, I’ll just mess it up again. Some of us so idealistic that we find ourselves stuck and rarely do anything. Yet, as a Christ follower our life’s mission is not lived out in the midst of idealism, but in the midst of the real world where we live today.
We may be disappointed with where we’re at now. Perhaps our lives haven’t turned out the way we planned or hoped for, but life is what happens when we embrace the unexpected. Jesus did not only say, “Believe in me,” but also, “Follow me.” If we are going to pursue God’s purpose for us it will be by trusting and following Him —of behaving and living in ways that reflect our life mission.
Join us next time as we continue this journey of fully engaging with God’s passionate purpose for us.
“The place God calls you to is the where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meets.” Frederick Buechner
