From the sky...

**Here are some thoughts from my flight to South Carolina.**

Friday, August 11, 2006 – 12:00 NOON
I think I fell in love with the sky today, which doesn’t come as too big of a surprise to me. I could lie outside and watch the stars for hours and hours if time allowed. On a nice day, lying on the grass and watching the clouds is wonderful. I’ve always loved Rich Mullins’ song “Pictures in the Sky.” When my sisters and I were little we would get extension cords and run them out to the back yard so we could listen to that album while we ran through the sprinkler. We would cue up that song and then lie on our towels and watch the clouds while singing along. When the song was over we would rewind and start again. Now I’m actually flying through a cloud.

A few weeks ago as I watched a crop-duster swoop down over the cornfields, I decided I wanted a red plane like in the movie The Kid so I could go flying through the clouds whenever I wanted. There was a small private plane that took off right before we did and it reminded how awesome I thought that would be. I started to get a really excited about our take-off.

The pilot then told us that we were number one for take off. He said it as if we were on the best plane out that day and every other plane was jealous. (It really was kind of humorous.) The pilot turned onto the runway and lined up the nose of the plane down the wide centerline. My favorite part of flying that brief moment after the plane gets on the runway and before the engines start get louder. The roar of the engines starts to build and the plane lunges forward. The plane builds speed and off into the air you fly. I love it!

I love flying over towns that I’m familiar with because I can see the places I know from a new perspective. South Bend was no different. The East Race was beautiful and I noticed how amazing some of the architecture was on buildings I’ve driven by several times. As we climbed in altitude, more and more clouds surrounded us. Now I look out my window as we fly over a thick, smooth blanket of white, I’m speechless. Breath-taking.

Something about the sky always puts me in a contemplative mood. I get more thinking done in five minutes on the basketball court with the stars than I do sitting at my desk deep in study. I think I like the sky because it is endless. I’ll never be able to grasp how large it really is. Every time I think about God and his creativity one word always comes to mind, HUGE!