Only We

This week we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the launching of Apollo 11 from Kennedy Space Center, which sent the first humans to the moon. Some of you still remember it.

I recently heard an NPR interview of one of the engineers who had worked on the project. He described how, on one hand, they were all highly-educated experts in their respective fields. But on the other hand, they were all working on something that had never been done before. Collectively, they needed to apply their skills to a blank sheet of paper and figure things out as they went along.

It was a learning experience for everyone. But more than the technical know-how, he also spoke about how they had to learn how to work together to achieve a common goal. Out of necessity, the word “I” began to disappear from their vocabulary. It was only we.

Although everyday life is far less complex than the Apollo 11 mission, we can relate to the feeling that despite our own experience and know-how, we do a lot of figuring things out as we go along. We learn how to do our best at our jobs, how to parent well, how to offer a positive contribution to our church and community.

But, like the Apollo 11 team, maybe we can learn how to do life better when the word “I” begins to disappear from our vocabulary. Only we.

Blessings,
Pastor Paul Cook