Hot Air Balloon

It was one of those unexpected moments.
I was lost in thought during my walk this morning.
It was early…very quiet.
Suddenly, there was a sound like the rush of wind.
I turned and right above the tree tops was a beautiful hot air balloon.

Hot air ballooning is fairly typical where I live.
The rural setting provides many wonderful spots for take off and landing.
Usually, you will see the balloons in the early evening.

Seeing this balloon was unusual because it was so early…only 6:45 in the morning.
I could literally see the people in the basket waving to me.
I could see the flames from the propane burner heating the air so the balloon would rise.

Just as quickly as the balloon appeared, it was gone.
It was floating above the treetops and then it disappeared.

I wondered what life looks like from a hot air balloon.
We go about our days feeling so important.
Yet we must look like tiny specks to the people in the gondola.

Isn’t it amazing that our great God, creator of the universe, does not see us as specks?
Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. (Luke 12:7)
You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. (Psalm 139:2,3)

God intimately cares for His children.
We are not forgotten.
Our God is not a God who looks down and is disinterested in us.

He is a God who came down.

Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

I pondered something else about God this morning.

Our world is very chaotic.
Confusion, evil, violence, redefinitions…
Our world seems to be unraveling…DOWN HERE!

But from God’s vantage point, as the Maker of all things…as the One who is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…there is order. (Colossians 1:17)

After my mother died, my father wanted to take a trip…needing to get away.
It was the last thing I wanted to do, but at fifteen, I submitted to my father.
He wanted to go far away…to Europe.
I just remember a whirlwind trip that seems very vague to me now…as it was then.
But I do remember one thing that I thought of this morning.

While in Paris, the group we were with went to the Eiffel Tower.
How exciting to see the incredible panoramic view of the city below.
We drove in terrible traffic.
The drivers seemed to be everywhere, darting in and out, rushing to their destinations.
There was total chaos.

But from the Eiffel Tower, there was order.
I saw the Champs-Elysees, the avenue of diamonds and rubies.
The steady stream of car headlights and taillights, resembled those gems.
From that vantage point, the traffic was moving smoothly.

This is what God sees.
God sees order because He has the Panoramic View.
We see chaos, because we see only our little piece.

I want to be in God’s hot air balloon.
I want to see the chaos of this world from His perspective.
I want to look at the tiny speck of trouble from far above it.
I want to hear the wind of the Spirit as He lifts me higher.
Secure in God’s gondola, I am in good Hands.

Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. And tongues, like flames of fire that were divided, appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Then they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech. (Acts 2:2-4)

 

 

 

2 responses to “Hot Air Balloon”

1. I love those verses!

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   • I love them, too, Janna.

     Reply