Launch and Discover

Whether you know it or not, you have been a part of a launch from the moment you entered the world. I recently mentioned how launching is an act of exploration. Some of the world's greatest explorers took up the challenge to discover things that previously had not been ventured into. Yet, the greatest launch that anyone can ever undertake is the launch to discover one’s self.

I’ve spent the last few days watching National Geographic’s show “Welcome to Earth,” hosted by Will Smith. In that series, he has taken up the challenge of exploring parts of the world that few will ever have a first-hand experience in seeing. As he does it, he is facing fears that he never faced and dangers he never imagined. This “West Philadelphia born and raised” icon has conquered a great deal in life.

However, the challenges that he was given the opportunity to face in the making of this show launched him into a different sort of self-exploration that tested his mettle in ways that he never dreamed possible.

Every day, we too are given the opportunity to launch into self-discovery. Each new day that we live, we choose who we are going to be, where we are going to go, what we will accomplish, and whose lives we will impact. Do you know who you have to become in order to reach and fulfill your potential? Do you know what you have to be willing to risk or even give up to arrive at the place you desire to be? These are but a couple of questions that you may ask yourself as a part of your own self-exploration so that you can reach your destiny.

There are days that you will spend with God, where His greatest desire is to reveal to you, you! I’ve been sitting here just thinking about the moment that Jacob wrestled with an angel. For his entire life up until that moment, he had the reputation of being a supplanter and heel grabber. Yet, after a whole night of wrestling, he came away with a new identity. God told him that he would from that moment on be known as Israel or “God contends.” Think about that shift. He went from supplanter to God contends. Both give rise to someone who fights but it is the latter one that shows his relationship with God and a truly divine purpose.

Likewise, Peter had been known for years as Simon. He was known as someone who was flaky and unstable. Yet, after a few years with Jesus, he became someone who would be known as rock solid and very stable.

You don’t necessarily have to go through a physical name change when you are launched into a moment of discovering yourself. However, God’s greatest blessing is in revealing to you who you really are, removing the lie, unfolding the truth, and sending you out as a new creation that will impact the world in a way that you never imagined before. It’s my prayer that whatever you do this year, you will launch what God tells you to launch; and even greater is the discovery of who you’ve been launched into the world to be!