What can the recent NASA and SpaceX launch teach us about another great cosmic journey?
On May 27, history was made with the attempted launch of the Crew Dragon, the first manned space mission of a private company. Led by billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company, in partnership with the United States space agency, NASA, the ambitious project is also historic for other reasons. Among them: This was the first flight of American astronauts flying from their country since 2011. That year, the U.S. government program which financed the famous space shuttles of the past ended. Since then, NASA has had to pay tens of millions of dollars for each of its astronauts who go into space "hitchhiking" in Russian spacecraft.
But this launch, which generated huge excitement around the world, could not be carried out due to unfavorable weather conditions. The new launch attempt was scheduled for three days later, May 30, and was successful.
Practical lessons
But, what practical lessons for our life does this news offer?
In childhood, many of us dream of becoming astronauts. It is certainly not necessary to mention how much academic preparation involved in space travel one must have, from technicians and flight controllers to engineers and astronauts. Preparation is essential. In addition, there is enormous teamwork involved behind this type of trip. Only the dedicated work of thousands of people results in success.
When we think of the church, there are many similarities to what was described above. Christ left a mission to be accomplished. This mission depends on the search for excellence and individual preparation of each member. As the body of Christ, success will be achieved with dedicated and faithful teamwork. All this for a purpose that is to take people to Heaven--not the NASA astronauts, but Christ's astronauts, known in the Bible as those who were redeemed by the blood of the Son of God.
For a successful space flight with astronauts, certain conditions must be met. The same is true of the church. We must do our part in the great work of salvation. Situations that we often do not want can postpone this cosmic journey with Christ, just as it did with the astronauts. But remember that there is special care behind the postponement:
“The Lord does not delay his promise, although some see it as late; but he is long-suffering toward us, not wanting some to be lost, but all to repent ”(2 Peter 3: 9).
You know that child's dream of one day being an astronaut and traveling through the universe? In Christ we can believe that this dream will come true one day, and our first great cosmic journey will be with him to Heaven.
Josué Cardoso dos Santos is an expert in the study of the movement of stars and planets. He currently works as a researcher at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), where he studies the movement of satellite constellations. He has a degree in Mathematics from Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), as well as a master's and doctorate in physics from the same institution.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site