Someone called me that a few days ago. He said if I was crazy enough to strap myself to an oversized kite and jump off a mountain I would be the perfect picture of one of God’s creations gone terribly wrong. Can’t help it. It has been a desire of mine since the first time I went flying in a two-seater Cessna 150.

I love to fly. I love the sight and sensation of an airplane leaving the runway, glancing behind and seeing the ground pull away. It is one of the main reasons I put in so much time, effort, and money to get my Private Pilot’s License in ’84. To me it is the ultimate sense of “getting away from it all”, so to speak. The perspective one gets from 3000 to 7000 feet above the ground is vastly different than one gets here on terra firma. A preacher friend of mine put that into words a few years ago.

I had concentrated so much on the technicalities of aviation, that for a while I failed to see the “big picture”. I was so involved in the exact and proper methods of controlling the aircraft and making sure of what to do in case of an emergency that I had started to let the plane “fly me instead of me flying it”, as my instructor used to say. He said a pilot should be aware of what is going on with the craft while at the same time looking around at the reason someone learns to fly in the first place. (And it doesn’t hurt to have an Elder in the Lord’s Church as the instructor either.)

So what is the “big picture”? In a phrase: CREATION AND THE ONE WHO IS THE CREATOR.

This preacher I have mentioned wanted to go flying one particular Saturday morning, so we met at the airport and after he said a prayer, (something about God not letting me kill him), we were airborne. He said nothing until we had climbed out to about 3500 feet and began a tour of the land below us. (Come to think of it, I don’t think he breathed until we went into level flight.) While I was concerned with the job at hand, he looked around and tried to take in the awesome sight below. After a few minutes, he looked at me and said, “Mike, even if I were an atheist, what I see below us would be enough to convince me that there IS a God. Who else could have created it?”

He was absolutely right. Who else indeed? Could it all have come about by accident? Is it possible the evolutionists’ theory of the so-called “big-bang” have brought it all to pass? Did it take eons and eons of time for it all to appear?

No, kind reader, there IS another answer. One in which we can rest assured DID happen. Ps 19:1 1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (NAS) No explosion from the depths of the cosmos could have created the beauty of God’s earth because explosions destroy and God creates. No vast amount of time needed to pass for God to put into motion all of nature that we see around us. It was no accident. If you are looking for a difficult answer to the question of how it all came about, you will not find it. The answer is very simple. Gen 1:1 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (NAS)

That is the prime meridian against which all ideas and theories and hypothesis about creation are measured. It is really not so difficult to understand. God meant for it to be a simple answer to a complex question. But man thinks that is not good enough, there MUST be more to it. But there isn’t. Why do humans make situations more difficult than they have to be? If we question it, why not accept the answer? WHEN? “In the beginning.” WHO? “God.” WHAT? “Created the heavens and the earth.” If the Creator does not have a problem with Creation, then why should we?

Returning from our hour long flight in which I learned to see more clearly what God had created for us, this friend of mine began holding his breath again as the runway appeared to rise up to meet us. After the tires on that Cessna 172 Skyhawk touched the pavement with that familiar squeal, he said, “I have seen more of what God created in one hour of flying than I have seen in 52 years on the ground.” He added, “Besides that, God answered my prayer!”

So, I maintain that desire to learn hang-gliding. That way I can see even more of what God has made instead of making sure I don’t crash. No engine noise to drown out the sound of the wind. No radio to work. No 4-axis flight controls to keep ahead of. Just the sound of the wind rushing past. Just me and the birds. And God. And all of what HE created opening up for my eyes to behold.

So, strap me in and show me the launch ramp. Gotta lot to see!

Michael Williams mwilliams@djis.net