Going High

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.  Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?  You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.  Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1-9 NIV)

Like millions of others five years ago, I was glued to my computer screen watching Felix Baumgartner’s jump from 24 miles above the earth.  A giant helium balloon had carried his tiny capsule to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere where, in a pressurized suit, he would climb onto a platform and jump back toward earth.  For one, who as a kid once dreamed of becoming an astronaut and watched the first moon landing, this took me back to those exciting days of space exploration.  

As Baumgartner climbed onto the platform of his capsule and prepared to jump, he said, “Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.”  And then he was gone, disappearing rapidly back into the wide expanse of the earth, a tiny dot on a giant canvas.  

There is something about going high that puts one’s life into perspective.  I remember the astronauts of Apollo 8 reading Genesis 1 as they orbited the moon and looked back at the blue planet hanging in space.  They and many around the world realized in that moment how small we really are compared to God and the universe He created.  I have that same feeling when flying at 36,000 feet and looking out on the earth below.

David writes, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers…who is mankind that you are mindful of them…?”  In pondering the immense creation around him, David realized, in spite of the power and position he held, how small he truly was.  By going high in his mind, he gained a proper perspective.

A former astronaut who watched Baumgartner’s jump said the high perspective one gets from space helps you to realize the world doesn’t revolve around you.  Perhaps we all need to have that experience!

Today, though you may not be able to reach the height of space, look up and around to gain a higher perspective.  See how truly small you are compared to God.  Life, as Felix Baumgartner realized 24 miles above the earth, is not about us.  We are so small.  No, it is about Him who is so great and so majestic, and who from His lofty perch, looks down upon you and me with love and mercy. 

© Jim Musser 2017