The Air Up There

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately. My wife and I set off on a high adventure for the nation of Guatemala last week. I spoke at a conference, did a small TV show and also preached a couple of church services. While all of that is awesome, you have to be be willing to cram your great big hiney into a little bitty seat on a metal tube being thrown 31,000 feet high into the air at 500 miles an hour. In other words, you have to fly.

I always ask for a window seat, partly because my fatness spills over into the isle but mostly because I genuinely gawk outside through the entire flight. The clouds, the citys, the flying saucers, -well thats typically from the Prozac I take before the flight. The rivers and oceans and islands, those are real. I love the view from thirty one to forty thousand feet.

I have flown over the Sahara Desert several times and it is a lot more comfortable being over it than on it. The beautiful colors blend into the horizon and because of the heat, you can’t tell where the sky ends and the ground starts.

On my way back from India once, I flew directly over the north pole and even though it was summer, there was nothing but ice as far as I could see. The top of the world is as white as you imagine. In contrast, last week I flew over the oil spill in the gulf between Miami and DFW. What a mess. Yes, it is as bad as you think it is. and it didn't look all black, it mostly looked red. The gulf is bleeding.

I have seen lots of things from the air, that I have never seen on the ground. The swiss Alps, the French Alps, the Statue of Liberty, Kabul Afghanistan and Baghdad Iraq. How does it go? I seen a peanut stand, heard a rubber band and seen a needle that winked it's eye. But I done seen ‘bout everything when I see a elephant fly.
Short View Vs. The Long View Psalm 37 is a wisdom psalm that tells the importance of maintaining the right perspective during our brief visit of this planet. We have got to have a different perspective.

The wisdom of this psalm is to adopt a long-run rather than a short-run perspective on life by embracing God's purposes for every part of our life. Trust in the Lord,
delight yourself in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord and rest in the Lord, it says.

The perspective from above is that, all of the mess we are going through is absolutely temporary. The view from above looks a lot better and takes a whole lot more into consideration. Sometimes we need to just stop what we are doing, take a deep breath and ask God to give us an eye to see things His way. Above the muck and the mire and the mess It’s a lot easier to breath. Get up there as quick as you can and as often as you can get there.


The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the LORD upholds him with His hand
Psalms 37:23 and 24

Troy Pastors Open Door Church near Joshua and can be reached at www.opendoorministries.org