We all have a “perspective.”  Social psychologists say our perspective is based on perception, the process of taking in sensory stimuli and organizing it mentally into something that makes sense to us.  It could be collection of sights, sounds, smells etc., the human senses detect some type of stimulation.  Other factors are thrown in like past experience, cultural expectations, motivation, education etc.  The main point here is that this is a “grounded” view of the world.  We all have a perspective that is unique to us, based on how we “see” the world.  Actually, when one considers all of our factors of perception, no two of us take in information exactly the same.

Have you ever glimpsed the world from a “big picture” point of view?  Visionary people have that gift; they see reality as what it could be, not what it is.  They dream big dreams, connecting ideas together to create something that is larger than life.  In a like manner, I began to understand the Bible better when I finally was able to zoom out to “30,000 feet”*  Instead of seeing the sixty-six books of The Bible that sometimes seem disconnected, the Bible can be seen as a story of the creation, the fall, redemption and restoration.  Some would say this is the opposite of a unique “grounded” perspective, more of a shad point of view, a big explanation that provides a context for our uniqueness.

Chandler writes part two of his book entitling it “The Gospel in the Air.”  Part one was “The Gospel on the Ground.”  He presumes in part two that he will zoom out to the grand drama of The Bible.  Instead of    individua responses to God [whatever they may be], the focus is on a “wide angle view” of Scripture.

As I begin to comment on Chapter 5, “Creation”, I want to emphasize that having a vision is important.  Knowing why things are the way they are is what I call significant knowledge.  Having the ability to extract larger meanings about the particular things that happen to us is valuable.  Many of us have conversion experiences and often they seem so individualistic, but if we could just lift our eyes to the “Gospel in the Air” level, these occurrences are part of a much bigger picture.  Small stories are part of a bigger story, the story of God renewing creation, one person at a time.  Indeed, God wants to reclaim His world and He is doing that one person at a time. 

Too often we are content with the “small picture.”  It is less taxing on the brain, much easier to comprehend.  If we think we understand the small picture, we feel confident and our individual experience seems very important [maybe unrealistically important].  However, when it comes to harrowing, depressing, even traumatic events, the “small picture” can be damaging, causing us to think we are the only one going through our experience, when in fact we are not. 

What I am saying is context is important.  Without it, we can be lost in an ocean of details, swamped by particular events.  With context, we can have a deeper understanding of what “it all” means.  I know there are ideas much bigger than mine, ideas that help me understand it all.

It is time to experience those.  It is time to go to…

“The Gospel in the Air”

*My apologies to Pastor Skip Heitzig who has a book called The Bible from 30,000 Feet Up.