NASA primarily chose the Ariane rocket to launch the Webb Space Telescope because it was the most reliable rocket that could lift so much weight.

The exact configuration of the Ariane rocket varies by the type of payload being carried into space. But the basic configuration remains similar.

Therefore, the Ariane rocket that launched the Webb Space Telescope came in two stages—two parts.

Why?

The first stage is very heavy. It has to drop off to save fuel as the rocket lifts the payload higher.

These characteristics of the Ariane rocket made me think of how God enables us to become people who love the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength, and with all our mind; and to become people who do for others what we would like them to do for us. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:36-38; Matthew 7:12; 22:39-40; Leviticus 19:18).

God’s ways are completely reliable—even more reliable than the Ariane rocket!

As the LORD assured us through the Prophet Isaiah:

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

   so are my ways higher than your ways

   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow

   come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

   without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

   so that it yields seed for the sower and bread

       for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

   It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy

   and be led forth in peace.”

     (Isaiah 55:9-12).

Unfortunately, the Prophet Isaiah had to overcome people whose hearts were hardened—whose hearts were so calloused that when they heard the words of the LORD they did not understand what the LORD was telling them and when they saw people in need they did not perceive what they needed to do. (Isaiah 6:9-10).

And so, instead of going out in joy and being led forth in peace, their land was ruined and without inhabitants. Their houses were left deserted. Their fields were ruined and ravaged. (Isaiah 6:11-12).

Nevertheless, the LORD promised that he would bless the “holy seed”. (Isaiah 6:13).

How can we become this “holy seed”?

The author of Hebrews gives us the answer. We must “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” (Hebrews 12:1).

We must be like the Ariane rocket, dropping off its heavy first stage at just the right moment to continue with the Webb Space Telescope a million miles further towards LaGrange Point 2–towards the ideal place of service. (Romans 5:6; see my blog “The Webb Space Telescope—Reaching the Place of Service”).

What kinds of things must we drop from our lives?

As the Apostle Paul told us, we must drop off the weight of “acts of the flesh [that] are obvious [such as] sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21).

As the Apostle Paul told us, we must “[g]et rid of”—drop off the weight of—“all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” (Ephesians 4:31).

As Jesus told us, we must drop off the weight of the kinds of things that Jesus warned us about in his Parable of the Sower: quickly falling away from following his words because of troubles and persecutions, and having our fruitfulness choked by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.

Put most simply, we must do exactly what Jesus commanded his disciples to do when Jesus called them to follow him: leave everything and follow him! (Luke 5:11,27-28; Luke 18:18-30).

In this Way of Jesus, we will see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and feel with our hearts, going out in Joy and being led forth in Peace.

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For additional thoughts arising from the Webb Space Telescope, please read my blogs “The Webb Space Telescope—Reaching the Place of Service”, “The Webb Space Telescope—Years of Preparation”, “The Webb Space Telescope—Liftoff!”, and “The Webb Space Telescope: God’s Unfolding Plans”.

In my book Visions of the Church (published together in one volume with my book Visions of America), I use the troubled—but ultimately triumphant—flight of Apollo 13  as the narrative thread to provide an overview of 2,000 years of Church history in a mere 80 pages.

For information about the Ariane 5 rocket that launched the Webb Space Telescope, please check the official NASA information at jwst.nasa.gov.