Time In the Sky

I often feel closest to God when I fly. Everything is calm up here above the clouds. Although human flight has only existed in the last century, I can fully understand the age-old idea of heaven as a place in the sky. I can't help but feel that I must be physically closer to God, even though my Sunday school teacher taught me "God is everywhere."  I feel close because this seems like the view He must have on us. Towering skyscrapers are reduced to small-scale models. Fields a mile wide become no more than small freckles on the face of a vast landscape. Seeing earth from this perspective is more divine than human.

I've been flying around the country for work for almost three years, but I enjoy the experience every time. Alright maybe not the traffic, security screenings, and rushing to catch flights, but once in the air, the world seems to slow down. It's amongst the clouds that I often have the deepest thoughts - things just make more sense up here. The world's complex problems have simple solutions, yet the color gradient of a setting sun across the sky blows my mind.  Except for the occasional severe turbulence, I find great peace in the sky.  God really did surround us with so much beauty.

As the plane begins its decent, I am inevitably disturbed from my celestial sanctuary as I hear the flight attendant give her "cease and desist" order against all electronic devices.  This is usually when I try to be a little sneaky and at least keep my noise-canceling headphones on.  Let me tell you - this technology is absolutely amazing.  Maybe this added silence is what has added to my flight euphoria, but these headphones were well worth the money.  Do yourself a favor and go out and buy a pair immediately if you ever plan to get on an airplane again in your lifetime.

After the flight attendant catches me with my headphones, she reminds me of how the electronic signal from my portable device could cause a radio disturbance that could throw off communications with the tower, therefore causing a major collision at the airport with large loss of life. Ok, she didn't really say that, but you'd think that's what would happen... 

I reluctantly put the headphones back in my bag.  Since when did we have those giant jet engines on the side of this thing? Man those things are loud!  I also start to notice that the ride has become significantly bumpier at these lower altitudes.  These are all of my back-to-earth reminders.  Everything was much more beautiful from higher up.  The ride was smooth and peaceful.  Now we are all being jostled around as the wheels touch down and the smell of burnt rubber rises from the runway. 

Now I am back to the realities of life on terra firma, but I hope I never loose the awe I have for my time in the sky.