“Houston, we have a problem.”

Apollo 13 is a good movie. I think we can all agree that Tom Hanks is a national treasure second only to the movie National Treasure 2. Both star Ed Harris so I rest my case.

Here are some little known facts about that movie that I’m certain you didn’t know:

1) It was actually Bill Paxton not Bill Pullman.

2) Like the actual moon landing, most of the movie was shot on a sound stage

3) The scenes that show weightlessness were actually shot on a special airplane designed to simulate space conditions.

That plane is nicknamed the “Vomit Comet” because of the G-forces it inflicts on passengers as it pulls up to a high altitude then dives down the bell curve and renders the cabin weightless for a brief period of time. You actually float as if you’re in space. It’s like a dream. Dreams are fleeting.

I’ve been thinking about the Vomit Comet lately on weekday mornings. You see, my Sundays at church are my thrilling experience. I am moved by the music. I am enlightened by the sermons. I find myself caught up in worship and I let go of all that’s holding me back from a deeper relationship and my heart floats up – weightless – getting closer to God.

Then my own personal Vomit Comet called the work week starts pulling G’s on Monday morning. Kids need to be changed, dressed, fed, entertained, changed again. Conference calls need to be dialed into and put on mute while I watch YouTube. The stuff of earth is so damn heavy – it brings me down and all that feeling of floating is gone. No time for dreams during the workday.

So is that what being an adult is? Crushing the hopes of the the child inside us that craves a freedom we believe to be unrealistic?

Or is it possible that the floating is our natural state and everything else is just a byproduct of a broken world? I’ve been thinking about that when I leave church lately – am I just high on a drug that wears off as I return to real life?

I guess that’s a question I won’t have answered until I’ve left this earth.

But I do know this: I’d rather be floating. The highs are worth the lows. I hope and pray that as I focus on the deeper truths of this existence I’ll find the weight of the world lighter and lighter and learn to connect with God even on week days.

Mary Chapin Carptenter says it best:

“Why spend your whole life wishing – wanting and wondering why? It’s a long enough life to be living… why walk when you can fly?”

Amen.