It is About Point of View

Do you fly? You know what I mean; do you fly in an airplane? To me, flying is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. I was flying into San Francisco on a 707 one time and we stopped in San Jose. We let off a lot of passengers there. The plane seated about 220 passengers and I doubt there were 10 people left on the plane when we took off to make the short hop to San Francisco. I will never forget and it is twenty years later, the g-force and incredible take off we had that day. It was awesome!

I am not a frequent flyer. It is only every now and then that I get the opportunity to fly. I would like to share some observations about flying that I have made. I remember my wife’s first time to fly. We were flying on a twin-turboprop commuter airplane that seated 30 passengers. Now this was my first time to be on this small of a plane and Melinda was “freaking” out just being on a plane. We were seated over the wing and I had the window seat. As we are waiting to take off, I looked out the window and notice there was a “patch” riveted on the cover of the prop motor on the wing. What really caught my attention was I could see a little bit of oil squirting out of the “patch.” Now I didn’t mention this to my wife or anyone else because I knew they wouldn’t get that plane off the ground if I did so.

However, on our return trip I noticed some things that I want to share with you. I noticed there were times when, because of the clouds, I couldn’t see where we were going. In fact all I could really see was right where we were. My vision was very limited but the pilot had assured us that his visibility from the cockpit was many miles ahead. I also noticed that as we were flying at the thirty thousand feet altitude I could not distinguish anything on the ground. In fact, I pretty much had no idea where we were. The pilot, however, seemed to know exactly where we were at all times. There was no hesitation on his part at all.

When we came into the airport I noticed the closer we came to the ground the bigger things became. At first you could barely make out the cities, then the houses, then the cars, and then the people. Just as we were coming in we flew over a golf course and you could actually see the people playing golf. The closer we got, the bigger things became.

I remember on another flight, I was flying from San Francisco to Dallas. We flew into Denver and I switched planes. The flight from Frisco to Denver was very rough. It was bad enough they wouldn’t let the flight attendants up. This plane was fairly large, and full, but was being tossed around like a kite in the wind. It was bad enough the person sitting next to me filled several “doggie” bags before we landed. When we left Denver for Dallas they allowed us to tune into the pilots radio frequency with our headsets and we were able to hear him communicate with the tower. Again, we were being tossed pretty bad and the pilot kept asking to be allowed to fly at a higher elevation so we could get above the turbulence. They finally gave him permission and we had a smooth ride.

I flew from Springfield, Missouri to Fresno, California several years ago. I was going to where my mother was living at the time and moving her to Arkansas. The day that I left I woke up with a terrible cold. I wasn’t in the air five minutes before my ears plugged from the pressure. They remained plugged until we were in Flagstaff, Arizona, elevation 7,000 feet, traveling to Arkansas three days later.

Let me try and tie this together. When I am in a plane I place my life in the hands of the pilot. I don’t have to be able to see because I trust his judgment. I don’t have to understand if the plane is leaking oil because they have checked it and know what is happening. If I will let the pilot have control he will take me from point A to point B safely. He has my safety as his concern! I need to do the same with God. I need to put my life in His hands and trust Him to get me to heaven safely. It doesn’t matter if I can see or if I understand everything, I must trust Him.

This is the USS Ronald Reagan in the San Diego Bay. Notice how small they seem. The higher I fly the more my point of view changes! There will be some pressure. There will also be some turbulence. But the closer I get to heaven the less the turbulence is going to affect me. Those things of this world that seemed so “big” to me on the ground now seemed so insignificant. Things like houses, cars, pleasures, people, all of these started to loose their importance the higher I go. They eventually become insignificant. I noticed just climbing into the plane changes one’s perspective, of everything on the ground. The closer I get to God and the more I learn of Him, the more my perspective of this world changes.

A scripture comes to mind, “They that wait upon the Lord… shall mount up with wings like an eagle…” I have to wonder if part of that meaning could be that when we bind ourselves together as one with God (which is what the word “wait” actually means) we will get a totally different point of view about the things of this life. Will the way we view things change? Will the “…things of this world… grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace?”
What would happen if we really developed a “heavenly point of view?”

Just a thought!

God Bless!