This past Sunday’s successful test of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship and the return of its 323-foot Super Heavy booster rocket is being hailed as a milestone engineering feat, a breathtaking accomplishment of “technical wizardry” in the world’s quest to conquer the stars.

Launched from Boca Chica, Texas, the spaceship traversed the globe, endured 3,000-degree temperatures upon its reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, and made a perfect “belly flop” landing in the Indian Ocean.

But it was the flawless return of the spacecraft’s 400-foot booster rocket that many likened to a scene from a fantastical movie.

As the Starship hurdled into outer space, the “Mechazilla” booster separated from the craft. Engines on the rocket then ignited as it fell at supersonic speed, sending sonic booms into the sky. Additional engines then slowed its descent as it rocked back and forth, flames shooting out from underneath, before being caught by a mechanical arm.

“The tower has caught the rocket!!” wrote Elon Musk on X. “Science fiction without the fiction part.”

For perspective, it was just over a century ago that Simon Newcomb, a distinguished professor of mathematics in the United States Navy and Johns Hopkins University, declared safe human flight an impossibility.

“How shall he reach the ground without destroying his delicate machinery?” wrote Newcomb. “I do not think the most imaginative inventor has yet even put on a paper a demonstrative, successful way of meeting this difficulty.”

The very next morning the Wright brothers finalized plans to fly at Kitty Hawk. Within the same century men mastered flight on earth and even landed and walked on the moon.

It was 13 years ago when Elon Musk, speaking at the National Press Club, stated:

A fully and rapidly reusable rocket is barely possible. SpaceX is going to try and do it. We could fail, but we’re going to try to do it. And we have a design that, on paper, doing the calculations, doing the simulations, it does work.

From SpaceX to Tesla to X, Elon Musk’s innovation and persistence has unleashed a flurry of new things. He’s made a hobby of tackling the impossible and proving it possible.

As Christians, do we live with a similar spirit of wonder and boldness, tackling the difficult things God puts before us, believing He can make or find a way?

If not, why not?

The Bible’s miracles aren’t just engaging or entertaining stories. Jesus didn’t perform them to wow a crowd, but rather to witness to the world, to demonstrate His power, fulfill prophecy, express His love – and show us that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

Elon Musk has described himself as a “cultural Christian” and “a big believer in the principles of Christianity.” Only the Lord knows where he’s at regarding a personal relationship with Him. But Musk’s boldness can and should inspire us.

As Christians, we look at the world and sigh at its brokenness. Shouldn’t we also be convicted as to what we might do about it, asking the Lord how He might use us to serve as His hands and feet on earth?

What seemingly impossible problems or pursuits might we tackle as followers of Jesus Christ? What is the ministry equivalent of the Starship and booster rocket program?

How can we better witness to a lost world about the saving love of Jesus? How can we shake the apathy and invigorate the imaginations of men and women, turning their minds from the drudgery of daily minutia to the delight and wonders of the Divine?

How might we save the million babies being aborted each year in the U.S. and millions around the world? How can we confront the lies of the Left and more effectively share the truth of God’s Word?

How can we help reverse the troubling trend of marriage’s decline, shakeup up the disinterest in having children, and inspire the rising generation to get married and have lots of kids?

God has placed in man’s heart a spirit of adventure. Whether scaling Everest or sailing the seas – or launching rockets and colonizing distant planets – courage and ambition have historically driven the world’s explorers.

But the greatest and most important adventures revolve around Holy Spirit inspired activities.

“God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go,” reflected pastor Tony Evans.

The timeless challenge remains: do you know what that place might be?