I Built A Rocket

I don’t know what your experience with model rockets is, but my childhood was filled with them. It was one of my dad’s favorite hobbies growing up, and like any good dad, he wanted to pass that love down to us. So, we built rockets together.
 
If you’re unfamiliar with model rockets, they are little machines made from paper towel rolls, pointed nose cones, wooden fins, and small engines. That’s an oversimplification, but at their core, that’s what they are. They range from something the size of a mouse to as tall as an 8-year-old. They launch hundreds and hundreds of feet into the air, and, if everything goes according to plan, they parachute back down to earth near where you launch them.
 
Building them was fun, but the launch was the main event. Once a rocket launched, its mission was complete. All that was left to do was reload an engine and launch it again.
 
While model rockets and real rockets have a lot in common, there are some major differences: Size, power, materials, and most importantly, mission.
 
Rumor has it we’re still planning to send astronauts to Mars. It’s an incredibly complex mission, and because of that, the timeline keeps getting pushed back. But hopefully in the next five to ten years, we will witness a rocket launching to Mars. For NASA, the mission doesn’t end after the launch. In fact, the launch is just the beginning of a two to three-year journey. The real mission begins after the rocket leaves the ground.
 
You see, the main event for a model rocket is the launch, but for an actual rocket, the launch is the start of something much greater. Sure, the launch is an incredibly important part of the mission (No launch, no mission), but the greater mission is what comes next.
 
This week we’re studying the ascension of Jesus. You could say it was a kind of launch (Jesus literally ascended into the clouds). But the ascension wasn’t the main event, it was a necessary step in a much greater mission. A mission that you and I are a part of today.
 
Join us tomorrow as we explore this powerful moment in the Apostles’ Creed and discover how Jesus’s often-overlooked ascension is just as vital to God’s mission as any other part of his life. I can’t wait to be with you and bring the Word of God!