Chasing The Sun At 39,000 Feet

Today I got an extra 156 minutes of sunshine. That is two hours and thirty-six minutes. Debbie and I hauled ourselves aboard a 737 and the pilot made a quick climb out of “The Lou” and turned westward. It was cloudy in St. Louis. It wasn’t so cloudy at 39,000 feet. The sun was shining. To bad for us though because it was in that “hey, I think I’m going to bed now mode.” It was barely visible. I think it was over Kansas City. Or maybe Joplin. It was hard to tell. But as we roared through the sky at 500+ miles per hour I began to notice that the sun was having trouble setting. It tried. Really it did. It finally slipped below the horizon. I think that happened around Tulsa. But for the longest time it must have hovered just out of our sight. The sky glowed in hues of orange, purple, and my favorite, a rather off-beat green. Not sure what that was about. Orange and purple I understand. But green?

I digress.

The important thing is that I figure this makes me a little bit like Joshua. One day in the middle of a fierce battle the Israelites were winning but not quickly enough. And so Josh prayed and God made the sun stand still. If memory serves they got an entire extra day. I could be wrong about that. I’m back at 37,000 feet right now. Someplace between Phoenix and Orange County, Ca. So the cabin pressurization is having its way with me and I could be wrong. But if Josh bought himself an extra day he seems to have lost out to me. I got an extra two hours and thirty-six minutes. But Josh was an honest to gosh biblical figure. I'm just a lowly 21st century pastor. I figure ... let's see ... uhhhhh ... ummmm... add 3 hours for 9 years of higher education ... carry the 1 ... subtract 30 minutes for skipping "Old Testament History" that one time ... okay I figure my 2 hours and 36 minutes in todays time translates into about 9 days in biblical time. Yowzer! Take THAT prophets of old!

And now it is dark. Loud and dark.

Directly below us I am quite certain you can find glorious things like rattlesnakes, wild horses, and the occasional buffalo. Don’t forget the cactus. Lot’s of cactus.

Directly above me you can find … God. I can’t see Him any more than I can see the rattlesnakes but He is there. Oh yes, He is there. And tonight I’m really glad that He created all of those laws of physics. Things like thermodynamics or whatever it is that does battle with gravity. At the moment gravity is losing. I hope it continues to lose right up until the landing gear is settled into place, the pilot is wiping the sleepy out of is napping eyes, and we find ourselves safely nestled into a big old John Wayne size terminal at the airport named after him.

Wow. Extended sunsets. Magnificent altitudes. Rattle snakes. God. John Wayne. All in one day. This should be a vacation to remember.