When Your Plans Blow Up | At The Movies Season 2 | Week 3

So we have a picture in our minds of how life is supposed to turn out, right? We've got plans and we make plans about like everything. So we've got plans for our careers, right? I'm going to do this job and then I'll get promoted to this one. I'll get transferred to this branch and moved to this role and then I'll retire. Or we've got plans for relationships. You know, I'm going to meet this kind of person. We're going to, you know, get date for X number of years, settle down and then get married, have X number of kids. We're going to live happily ever after. Got plans for our health. You know, I'm going to do this kind of diet, work out this number of times a week, get this much sleep. And if I do that, my body and soul is going to stay in tip top shape for the rest of my life. We just we make plans and we have a picture in our minds of how life is supposed to turn out. And there's nothing wrong, of course, with making plans. That's OK. It's OK to structure your life. It's just kind of a part of being a human being. Proverbs 19, verse 21, just points this out. It says many are the plans in a person's heart. So humans are just planners. That's just what we do. But the second half of that proverb goes like this. It says many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. So in other words, we can come up with plans, all we want plans for our kids, spouses, friendships, education, career, health, you name it.

We can come up with plan after plan, but plans fall apart. Right. Like that is really the only thing you can plan on. So you can plan on your plan falling apart. Which is why this proverb is trying to comfort us and encourage us by reminding us that even when our plans fall apart, God's purpose for our lives never falls apart. So in other words, God's purpose will prevail even when our plans fail. But if we're being honest, this is where we tend to run into just like a little bit of trouble, right? We have crises of faith around this because somewhere along the way, I don't know how it happened, but you and I, we bought into a lie and the lie goes like this. The proof of God's goodness is that he's going to bless me by allowing my plans to work out flawlessly. Right. We just think that, you know, if our plan goes according to plan, that means God loves me and he's blessing me. And so what happened? Well, you had a plan, everything in life was going according to plan until something blew up and the diagnosis was bad or you lost the loved one or the trauma caught up with you or the career just kind of fizzled out, never panned out. Right. You name it, everything was going to plan until suddenly nothing was going to plan. And it's like when that happens, it feels like overnight life is spinning out of control. You feel very alone, not quite sure how to get things back on track again. So what do we do when that happens? Like, what are we supposed to do when we make a plan, but the plan blows up? So today we're going to be looking at the 1995 Tom Hanks classic Apollo 13, because this movie is all about what happens when the plans blow up. Of course, this movie is about a real moment in history. So before we start watching clips, quick history refresher for us. So Apollo 11.

OK, that's the big one. That's Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. And that's one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. That's when human beings first land on the moon. That's Apollo 11. Four months after that mission, Apollo 12 launches. And again, Apollo 12 successfully lands on the moon. So at this point, NASA's cooking and humans start to think like, no problem, we've got this figured out. We can take a road trip to the moon whenever we want, because Apollo 11 success and Apollo 12 success. And then five months after the Apollo 12 mission, Apollo 13 launches. And again, the plan is just to land on the moon. Apollo 13's commander was Captain Jim Lovell. He's played by Tom Hanks in the movie. And Jim Lovell was the most experienced astronaut of his time. He had clocked more time in space than any other Apollo astronaut. His total time in space ended up being just over 715 hours. So that's almost 30 entire days he spent in space. And so Jim Lovell, super experienced, but he hadn't walked on the moon yet. And of course, the moon is the whole prize, right? Jim Lovell wants that experience more than anything else in his life. And Apollo 13 is his ticket. This is his chance to make a dream come true. At first, everything goes flawlessly, right? All according to plan. The launch is silky smooth. And for the first two days, Jim Lovell and his two crewmates, they're just cruising through space, having a great time, goofing around in zero gravity. And they're filming home movies and transmitting them down to the evening news. Like the plan was to go to the moon and everything was going according to plan until suddenly nothing goes according to plan.

So this is one of those scenes in the movie where it's like. I have no idea what they're talking about. It's all technical jargon, but I do know that that's exactly how life feels when it starts breaking down, right? It's like, you know, one minute we're cruising, life is clear and simple. We're inspired, we're passionate because the plan is working and everything's on track. And then it's like the next minute, the dashboard of our lives goes absolutely nuclear and every light is red and blinking and every alarm is blaring in our ears and everyone around us is chirping up and chiming in and telling us what to do to fix it. And everything's thrown into a panic and we have no idea where to even start, right? We don't even know where to begin fixing this mess. It's overwhelming. And so before we know it, it's like we just feel like we're in uncharted territory. We're alone, we're drifting, and we're a long way from the peace, comfort, and joy that we were experiencing even just yesterday. Now, Jesus tried to prepare us for this. He was super clear and honest with us. He just promised us that in this world, we're gonna have trouble. He did not say that we could avoid trouble if we come up with a good enough plan

or we could avoid trouble if we believe in all the right stuff or if we simply get lucky. Instead, he told us the truth and he was very clear. He just said, life is just gonna get blown off course. And he offered another promise right after that one, though. He said, in this world, you will have trouble, but you can take heart because I've overcome the world. And at first, that sounds nice. Sounds like we could slap that on a coffee mug and call it good. But it takes one second and a little bit of honesty to be like, okay, what does that even mean, though? What does that look like, to take heart? In real life, when everything around me is falling apart and my life gets completely blown off course, how am I actually supposed to keep it all together? How am I supposed to take heart? Because in the moment, when life is really, really hard, we don't feel like we can take heart. Instead, the thoughts going through our minds are more like I'm in too deep and I'm not equipped to handle this mess. I don't have what it takes. Even if I did have what it takes, I'm not the right person to handle this mess. That's what's going through our brains. Here's something to think about, though, okay? What if, and just what if, what if we're actually equipped to handle

all of the suffering and hardship that we face in life? Like, what if we actually do have everything that we need? And what if the only thing that we're lacking is just a little bit of clear instruction and clear direction? In this next scene from Apollo 13, the crew, they gave up. They gave up on their dream of landing on the moon. Now their whole priority is simply like, can we make it back to Earth alive? So they're on their way back home, but when it rains, it pours, and so they face problem after problem and failure after failure. And currently, the biggest problem is that they're breathing in too much carbon dioxide, and if they can't filter it out, they'll asphyxiate. And so what they need is a CO2 filter, but of course they can't just jog over to the nearest space Walmart and buy one, and so if they're gonna get their hands on a CO2 filter, they're gonna have to make one using only the materials that they already have on their ship. See, the Apollo 13 crew, they weren't expected to solve their problem on their own. They had mission control back down on Earth, working out the solution for them, and so all Jim Lovell and crew need to do is listen to mission control and follow their instructions down to the letter. And our lives are no different.

2 Peter tells us his divine power has made him the most powerful man on the face of the earth. He's the one who's going to save the world. 2 Peter tells us his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. So in case you missed it, we aren't told that we've been given some of what we need or most of what we need. Instead, we're told that God has given us everything we need for a godly life. It's just like the crew of Apollo 13. Like, we already have everything we need on board. We just need to follow instructions on how to use the tools that we already have. So, for example, we already have prayer. Like, you have access to that. We just gotta follow instructions from Philippians. We're told, don't be anxious about anything. Instead, in every single situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. We're told that if we do that, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We already have prayer. We already have scripture, right? We just gotta follow instructions from 2 Timothy. We're told all scripture, every word in that book

is God-breathed and it's useful. It's useful for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God, that's you, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Look around you. Right now, you're not the only one sitting in this room. You have community, or at least you have access to community. We just need to follow instructions from Hebrews when we're told, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds and not give up meeting together as some of us are in the habit of doing, but instead just encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Most importantly of all the tools that we have, for those of us who follow Jesus, you already have the spirit guiding you. You've just got to trust the instruction of Jesus when he told you, when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. See, when life blows up, I don't think my problem is that I lack what I need to survive. Instead, I think my problem is that I'm just not following God's instructions for how to use the tools that he's already given me. But when life blows up, that's the first thing we need. We just need clear instructions on how to use the tools we already have. Thankfully, we've been given clear instructions.

It's that big book called the Bible that's doing nothing but gather dust on your end table. But that's one thing we need. We just need clear instruction. And then there's another thing we need whenever the plan for life blows up and we're gonna see it in our next scene from Apollo 13. So to set up the scene, the crew is almost back home, but to get there, they need to do what is called a controlled burn. So in other words, they gotta like fire up the rocket for just a few seconds to give them kind of a final boost back towards Earth's atmosphere. The problem though, because there's like a billion failures on this ship, the problem is that they don't have guidance systems anymore which means there's no computer available to steer them in the right direction. That's a problem because space doesn't have road signs or clear cut streets, right? And so they kind of put their heads together and they decide that they're gonna steer the ship by trying to keep the view of Earth fixed in this one very specific window. And by the end of the controlled burn, the Earth still needs to be in that window. If they're off even by a fraction, like they will end up floating around aimlessly in space until they run out of oxygen. And so in other words,

the next 39 seconds will decide if the Apollo 13 crew lives or if they die. So I can't help but think of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount when he told us, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you as well. And I think of Hebrews when we're told like, just let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. So the crew of Apollo 13, they knew that the next 39 seconds would decide if they live or die. And so they decided to go with the race and the crew of Apollo 13, they knew that the next 39 seconds of controlled burn would determine whether they survived or not, right? That's a lot of pressure. There's a lot riding on those 39 seconds, but their key to survival was relatively simple to understand. It's just no matter how bumpy the ride and no matter how loud the sounds of the rattling ship, and no matter how scared or doubtful they were, they had to just do one thing and one thing only, they had to fix their eyes on Earth. And if they could do that, they had a shot. They had a shot at making it back home.

That's not a bad metaphor for surviving hardship with Jesus. It's like the ride is gonna get bumpy and the voices in your head are gonna get loud and the chaos is gonna feel overwhelming and the panic is gonna threaten to take over. But if we can just find a way to fix our eyes on Jesus and aim the direction of our lives toward him, regardless of, in spite of, the chaos of our hardship and suffering, like if we can do that, we've got a shot. You've got a shot at finding peace, maybe even joy in the midst of your hardship. When the plans to your life blow up, we need two things to survive. We just need clear instruction and we need clear direction. We need to follow God's instructions on how to use the tools he's already given us, and then we need clear direction. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus no matter how bumpy the ride gets. For the crew of Apollo 13, they followed their clear instructions and they followed their clear direction, and the rest, of course, is history. So even if you're not a history nerd, you probably know the basics of only two of the 17 Apollo missions, Apollo 11 and Apollo 13. Apollo 11 is remembered, of course, because of its success.

Apollo 13 is remembered because of its failure, but here's what's wild. So if I were to like go out on Pearl Street and start talking to random people, and if I were to ask which Apollo mission made it. to the moon first, people would probably like have to Google for a little bit before they found the answer. And then they would be like, oh, yeah, of course, Apollo 11. On the other hand, if I were to ask which Apollo mission nearly killed its entire crew, but they still all survived, my guess is that most people would answer immediately. They'd be like Apollo 13, of course. The Apollo 13 mission is just as famous and remembered as Apollo 11, maybe even more so. Why? Because the risk and the danger and the tension of Apollo 13 illuminate the better parts of the human spirit. The failure of Apollo 13 teaches us what is possible when people work together as a team and just don't give up hope. In fact, NASA coined a term for the Apollo 13 mission. They called it a successful failure. So what that means is, yeah, they failed in their primary goal, which is reaching the moon, but they still achieved an extraordinary success in returning the crew safely to Earth. And in the scene that we just watched, when flight director Gene Kranz predicts that this is going to be NASA's finest hour, he wasn't wrong.

It's like, yeah, it's amazing that NASA landed people on the moon multiple times. But the finest hour of NASA is when they showed the world what could be accomplished even after the plans blow up. In probably my favorite passage of the whole Bible, Paul talks about this thorn that he's got stuck in his side. And it's a metaphor, of course, for this suffering and hardship that he has. And Paul says that he's even begging Jesus to take this thorn away from him. And here's how Jesus responds. Paul says, three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So in other words, Jesus replies and he goes, Paul, no. Like, no, I'm not going to take away your thorn. I'm not going to turn back the clock to a time before the plans blew up. That's just not how real life works. But Paul, if you stick with me and if you follow my instruction and my direction, my power will be made perfect in your weakness. And I can turn this mess into a successful failure. And Jesus looks at Paul and he goes, hey, there's a chance that this moment becomes our finest hour together. That's why right after this, Paul says confidently, therefore, I'll boast all the more gladly

about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. And this is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties for because when I'm weak, that's actually when I'm strong. And so, yes, I know our plans blew up. And yes, it's true, this is never how we expected our lives to turn out. We didn't plan it to go this way. Yes, it's heartbreaking. At the same time, couldn't there at least be a chance that if we just learn to follow God's instructions, learn to follow his direction, if we can just fix our eyes on Jesus and use the tools he's already given us, couldn't there be a chance that Jesus's power might be made perfect through these weaknesses of ours? Then isn't there a chance that Jesus is prepared to turn this mess of yours into a successful failure? And isn't there a chance that with Jesus and only with Jesus, what was once our darkest hour could in time become our finest hour? Flatirons, Jesus did not promise that your plans would always work out, but he did promise that he will prevail even when our plans fail. And he promised that his power would be made perfect, not in spite of our weakness and failures, but inside of our weakness and failures. So don't let go now and fix your eyes on Jesus. He's the author of your faith.

He's the perfecter of your imperfections and he's the strength in the middle of your weaknesses. So just fix your eyes on Jesus and hold on tight until he helps you get safely back home.