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Soaring Upwards
Every time I get on an airplane - which is often - I am enchanted with the blue/white air and the amazing puffs and knots and explosions of clouds that come and go as we come and go across the land and seas below us. I feel like a basketball player leaping into the air so high one wonders if I will keep on going or land back down on the hardwood floor with a bad dunked basket. I wonder, of course if when Jesus returned to heaven, how he rose through the clouds from that dusty desert country, and disappeared into the blues and then the dark blues that turn into black where stars twinkled, and a moon gave life or was it a sun? Where did he go to? Did he soar beyond our universe through other universes? How far away, if distance was something that could be even measured or layered or was it steps to reach the heavenly home of His Father and all the angels were chanting his return? Well, it is something we don’t know, nor will we know until that day comes for us, when we will soar with joy, our souls thrilled at the ride, as we will be welcomed at the home of God, who is and was and will be all forever.
 We know Jesus the Christ soared upward into a space in which no one saw him anymore. Even
Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind led by a chariot and horses of fire - separating him from his walk with Elisha, on their way from Gilgal (in the Jordan) Elijah asked Elisha - what can I do for you before I am taken from you? It seemed Elijah knew what was in store for him. Young Elisha answered, “let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” Elijah responded, “This is a difficult thing, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours - otherwise not.”
It meant that he would inherit a double portion of his spirit.
As the two men were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them and Elijah went straight up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out - “My father, My father.” The chariots and horsemen of Israel tore up his clothes, as he went back to the bank of the Jordan - and he struck the water with his cloak, dividing into right and left (like the sea). Then he crossed over and those watching said the spirit of Elijah was resting on Elisha, so they greeted him and bowed to the ground before him.
Our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things, we are told. The pathway may have been bumpy, or leaping from light to dark, maybe a darkness that only had light when the angels sang his welcome, as they opened the gates so Jesus could reunite with his Father, who would hopefully give him the peace that He had earned, for which He had suffered, and which provided for the freedom that all mankind, at their endings, on the day when they are relieved from this earth, would join Him and His Father God in the heavens.
Jesus had spoken to his gang - who were questioning what would happen next. the Lord said: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem”, (implying this would remain when he is gone). When Jesus had said these things to his followers, those who never left his side in these final days, as they were watching every move Jesus made, the Son of God was lifted and a cloud took him out of their sight.
While Jesus the Christ was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white stood by them and commented, “Why are you just standing around looking up towards the heavens?” Makes me think of a basketball player sadly watching his super effort at a basket when it kept on going up and out of the parking lot. The two men in white advised those with the mouths surely open and their eyes confused: “The Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. “In other words, they implied that He would be back, and in that return, He will gather up all his people who are ready, willing, and able to leave the planet, and make a home in one of those mansions in the heavenly kingdom.
In these days, when we see people shooting up in a tube from Cape Canaveral, Florida - to be replaced on something floating in space, or just taking some sort of ego “I’m better than everyone else” excursion in to the darkness of the universe, I wonder what the eagles and soaring pelicans and millions of small size birds think, when they - or if they - take a glance at so many machines soaring off with noise into the air which is their ground, their fly space.
Take note: Flying means to move through air space to get from A to B. But Soaring is exciting, extraordinary, like skiing off a high mountain, it brings joy to the soul, and a feeling of accomplishment when finally reaching the ground. Soaring off a mountain side, which I did in Wyoming, when you have a guide attached with you, and having the courage to run off a cliff, suddenly there is a feeling of joy and “gee, I really am flying.” As the guide guided me in circles as we went higher, and then slowly lingered in space before heading back down to earth - he told me, when we get ready to land, slide like you are sliding into third base. Which I did. It was super.
One soars in a hot air balloon that goes high into the sky - pretty much straight up and not covering much distance below, and that is breath-taking, as someone pulls the ropes that guides the heat high up, that keeps the balloon soaring. One can see all below with more detail than when flying up in an airplane. And maybe it’s more like the views that please birds, that kind of height. Bird flight is one of the most complex forms of locomotion in the animal kingdom. Whether a bird is hovering, taking off, or landing, they are enveloped in a very complex system that allows them to soar into the air as high as their wings will allow.
Through millions of years of evolution, and different kinds of environments, the skill of taking off and landing has become a norm for so many types of birds, as their complicated movements, prey on predators, who might get in their way. And of course, there is the skill of knowing distance, how to specialize in wing spans, the different forms of flight, and some flights are falling or gliding, running, or leaping to catch an air wave, or bouncing for take offs. There are so many ways of lifting the bodies of birds, and then slowly undoing them so they can slide into the runway or tree or skim the ocean waves. And comically, albatrosses and swans are most like airplanes, taking a running start to generate sufficient airflow, something like someone trying to get a kite to fly.
Some flights are falling or gliding, some running or leaping to get up in the air while others wing-assisted incline doing something called proavis or bouncing take offs. Hummingbirds and Ospreys hover for short periods of time. Some birds can stay in a fixed position for quite a while, soaring above the clouds as it searches for prey lower down, and then zooming down and grabbing in its beak, a nice healthy, joyful meal. There is nothing stupid about birds. Some are just a delight like a large waterfowl which prefers to land into the wind and use its feet as it skids to a stop, sort of like water skiing. I wonder if Jesus, in quiet moments, watched the birds. Surely, He knew their skills. Surely, they fanned his way up to the heavens. Maybe they know something humans will never find out until they are on the way to heaven or hell.
~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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