Lift-off

Do you remember when you were a little kid and were simply amazed by something -- left in awe of how it works? I do, and it's the same feeling I had this morning as I watched Discovery end the two-and-a-half year pause in space shuttle lift-offs. Simply amazing.

Before the launch, they went through so much information detailing the improvements made since the Columbia loss and even improvements made in the past few weeks... I couldn't help but think, "How does it work?" "What's that?" "Whoa, that's cool!"

Wonder.

That's what it is. Seeing something so awesome that you just want to know more about it, how it works, how it does what it does. I grew up watching space shuttles lift-off on tv. I've even run (quite literally) to the ride at Walt Disney World that simulates a shuttle lift-off and jumped into it. It brings out the kid in me... the kid that just stares at the tv this morning, asking to myself tons of questions about how this thing works, "what does this do?", "wow..."

It's like legos (and why I still have thousands of them at the age of twenty). It's why older guys like fixing up old cars. It's why people travel and insist on doing things that the natives do (and not what they do back home). It's about climbing through a cave, or scuba diving at a reef or shipwreck. It's adventure. It's seeing something new, learning something new, and one of the most awesome feelings we'll ever have on earth.

I pray that one day my kids (should God decide to bless me with any) have the same since of wonder about the space shuttle that I have. That they long for adventure. That they open their eyes to see... and open their minds to discover.

God speed, Discovery... see you when you get home, and can't wait to hear what it was like!

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