The Launch

The Launch

"His divine power has given us everything that
we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of Him." II Peter 1:3

From the first orbit of the earth to the moon landing by Neil Armstrong and crew, the space program and the sense of adventure associated with it has long captivated the American public. What were once national events watched by everyone have now become commonplace but the launch of a space capsule or a shuttle is a display of power that is rarely seen and always exhilarating.

My thoughts wandered recently to the scene of the space shuttle sitting on the pad at the Kennedy Space Center waiting for clearance to launch, waiting for all the factors necessary for a successful launch to line up. The winds have to be the right speed and the weather has to be within certain limits and even the rotation of the earth has to be within certain "launch points". The potential sitting on that launch pad is incredible, enough power to thrust a rocket and its' cargo through the atmosphere and into orbit around the earth. But it is only potential until the ignition switch is turned on; in an instant it goes from harnessed potential to released power.

We can see that type of potential in so many of God's people: those who lived many years ago and those we sit next to in church every Sunday. God had a plan for Moses' life but it had to wait 40 years before it could be launched, 40 years that Moses spent in the wilderness developing character and learning to wait upon God for direction until the day that God spoke from the burning bush and Moses was sent forth. Joseph had a rocket's worth of potential; Potiphar saw it, the prison warden saw it, and God saw it (not in that order) but that potential sat unrealized until the very day that Pharaoh called Joseph forth, received the interpretation of his dreams, and made Joseph second in command in all of Egypt.

God has given us, as Peter said, "everything that we need for life and godliness". And so much of what He has given us is sitting in unrealized potential, like a rocket on the launch pad, waiting for the right conditions and timing. What God is doing in each life is different. The work He did in Moses was very different from what He was working out in Joseph but the potential was the same, the waiting was the same and the end result of a person accomplishing God's will was the same.

NASA has a launch window for all of it's flights, a window of time when a mission can be launched into a successful flight and orbit. I want to encourage you that God has a launch window for your life and the purposes He has for you. There is a work going on right now, invisible to most, unseen in part but with a definite purpose that is essential for the potential God has placed in you to be realized in its' fullness. You can rest assured, the day will come when God will give the command and there will be a launch a lift-off to great things in your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church