Greetings,

It is 4 a.m., the alarm clock has sounded. We have 30 minutes to get dressed and meet Rich in the lobby of our resort.  On time, we met him and proceeded to board his fifteen passenger van and head for the desert outside of Scottsdale.

He explains that we will be in the van for about forty-five minutes. When we arrive at our destination he will throw up a helium balloon to see the direction of the wind.  If it is good we will be set to go, if not, we will be off to another spot.

Plan B was the day’s protocol.  Upon reaching our alternate spot, we disembarked, around the same time the sun was breaking the horizon.  The sun’s rays were visible in a hue of colors.

The serenity of the moment was broken with the sounds of propane torches, that sent volumes of hot air skyward, and shortly after, so were we.  Our hot air balloon rose up from the desert floor.  It was like we were synchronized with the rising of the sun.

As we floated gracefully over the desert below, the desert seemed to come alive. It was not a dry barren wasteland.  There was life, plant life, and wild life. You could see a beauty that didn’t seem to be there when you were standing on the floor of the desert.

As I reflect on that hot air balloon ride over the desert, I cannot help but make an analogy between how we look at our life and how God looks at it.

There are times: when our lives appear to us as being dry and barren; when our days and weeks seem to be void of anything of beauty.

God however, does not see our lives: as being dry and barren; as being void of beauty.  Do you recall the story in Ezekial 37?  God showed a valley of dry bones to Ezekial and then God blew life into those bones.

When life seems to resemble the desert, you need to look at your life with a heavenly perspective, with God’s eye.

When you do, you will find an unexpected beauty to behold.

In Christ,