Moon Landing (Tatum Daily Update 453)

We did it.  Just yesterday.  40 years ago yesterday.  We put a man on the moon.  Can you believe it?  I guess that there are plenty who don't.  A Liberian girl, hearing about that one giant leap for mankind responded in her African accented English, White man ca' lie, oh. 

And she does have a pretty compelling point, if you want to get down to it.  But still.  The reason for us to go to the moon seems kind of silly to some.  You might wonder why we would spend billions of dollars just to crawl up Jacob's ladder far enough to pull down a few moon rocks and stick a flag in the dirt.  Valid concerns. But then there are others who said that it was about so much more.  It was about beating the Communist.  It was about our self-esteem. It was about having something that kept us busy enough to distract from a war in the jungle or between races, some led by a man with the letter "X" as his last name, others by an ominous Jim Crow, others by a peaceful guy from Ebenezer Baptist Church, just down the road a bit. 

And then there were other reasons- much greater reasons.  You know, there was this scientist, Von Braun, or something like that.  He was a rehabilitated Nazi working for the Americans. He said that the reason for the moon mission was simple. It was all about the stars, really. One day, Von Braun would insist, this sun of ours is going to burn up.  If we want to go on living, then we're going to need to find a new home.  "A bridge to the stars", they called it. 

And so that is why, at least philosophically, the U.S. has been exploring the idea of getting back to the moon and then onward to Mars.  A bridge to the stars. 

Some of us have been taught to dream big.  

But we didn't do anything for the last 40 years.  There have been some flights, sure.  But our bridge has been largely to nowhere. 

I thought about all this last night.  How we can so often waste such time.  I think about my life and the people that I love, and I think about a year ago, two years ago, 10 years ago.  That's why we talk so much about intentionality in ministry.  If you want to go to the stars, you're going to have to want to get there. You're going to have to live life on purpose.  

Going to the moon might seem like a huge waste of time. 

Calling someone and telling them that you love them might seem insignificant. 

What's the point of a red rock off of Mars? 

What good is a letter written, scribbled on yellow legal paper?  

The good might not be found in the next 4 years nor in the ensuing 40.  

But then again, who knows what stars we'll orbit one day because of the small, little things we do today? 

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Jason Tatum.

Regular Updates @ www.jasontatum.org

"Resurgam".