When You've Blown It: One Transformational Practice to Find Your Way Back to God

When You've Blown It: One Transformational Practice to Find Your Way Back to God 

The oxygen tank exploded! The ill-fated Apollo 13 was, in the words of astronaut Jim Lovell, “200,000 miles from Earth and headed in the wrong direction.” Lovell, who recently passed away at the age of 97, was on board that mission. 

You probably remember his more famous line from the Tom Hanks movie named after the mission: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” That mission to the moon never reached its destination, but it lives on as a remarkable story of ingenuity and calm under pressure—qualities that brought the NASA crew safely home. 

I find Lovell’s words—“200,000 miles from Earth and headed in the wrong direction”—a striking description of life at times. Haven’t we all felt like that? When things seem out of control, or when we’ve really blown it? There are so many situations where those words fit perfectly. 

King David knew that feeling. In Psalm 51, he writes a prayer of repentance—a cry for forgiveness and a longing to return to how things used to be. David wasn’t drifting through space, but he was spiraling into lust, manipulation, corruption, and even murder. 

It began when the beautiful Bathsheba caught his eye. After sleeping with her, David tried to cover up the resulting pregnancy. His plan seemed logical: bring her husband, Uriah, home from the battlefield, assuming he would spend the night with his wife. But Uriah refused, out of loyalty to his fellow soldiers. So David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle. The cover-up was complete. Or so David thought. 

It wasn’t until the prophet Nathan told his parable about a stolen lamb that David realised the truth: his actions were as vile as the wealthy man who stole from the poor. Until that moment, David felt relief—“I’ve fixed this!” And isn’t that our downfall too? We’re smart people, used to fixing what’s broken. But this hubris—that everything is fixable—is strangely common. 

Today, we live in an AI bubble. The brightest minds are offered billions to work on artificial intelligence because we believe the smartest people, armed with the smartest tools, can solve the world’s greatest problems: cancer, poverty, climate change, even government dysfunction. And maybe AI will bring incredible breakthroughs. But here’s the truth: David “fixed” his problem, but no one else’s. 

David was a genius—genuinely! Compare his psalms to Shakespeare or Hugo, and his poetry soars higher. And we live in a world of geniuses too, setting goals so audacious and dazzling you can’t help but applaud. Yet they are frail. Zuckerberg famously killed his own goats. Musk named his child X Æ A‑Xii. Sam Altman stockpiles gold, guns, and a bunker for the apocalypse. Honestly, I don’t want to go to a BBQ at Facebook HQ, a christening with Elon, or hide out in Sam’s nuclear bunker. I’ll take my chances with the Polonium 210! 

I respect their brilliance and the solutions they create. But I think the prophet Nathan still speaks today—about guilt. Just as he pointed to David’s guilt, so he points to ours. 

Because the problem that most needs fixing isn’t out there. It’s in here—the human heart. 

Jack Swigert, Jim Lovell, and Fred Haise—the intrepid Apollo 13 crew—were caught by the pull of the moon and slingshotted back toward Earth. To make that maneuver work, they had to act. With their main rocket engines unusable, they relied on the lunar module’s descent engine—designed only for short hops to and from the moon’s surface. They fired it for just 4 minutes and 24 seconds. Later, a few more seconds of burn corrected their re-entry angle. 

Think about that: from 240,000 miles away, three men’s survival depended on a tiny engine and a burn shorter than the time it takes to make a cup of tea. Such a small act—yet with enormous consequences. 

Now read Psalm 51 aloud. That’s about the same time it took for both Apollo 13 and David to correct their course. 

David was arguably further from home than those astronauts. But in both cases, something small yet immense happened. Whether it was the pull of the moon’s gravity or the reach of God’s mercy, both found their way safely home. 

Your Turn 

Maybe you’ve been trying to fix things on your own—steering life by your own calculations. But the truth is, the biggest correction isn’t out there somewhere; it’s in here, in the heart. 

Take the next few minutes—about the time it takes to make a cup of tea—and pray this prayer with me: 

Prayer of Return 

Father of mercy, I come home. I lay at Your feet all the things I’ve tried to fix in my own strength— my sins, my plans, my weariness, my pride, my fear. I confess that I have gone my own way. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love. 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make my life an offering that honours You. Through Jesus Christ, my Saviour. Amen.