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A Bird's Eye View

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“I would never live here,” were the words coming out of my father-in-law’s mouth as we sat in traffic on I-225 on a Thursday morning. My in-laws came out to Denver for a quick trip. We decided to go to the mountains and were just starting our day as we encountered what seemed to be ALL THE PEOPLE IN DENVER! Expecting this comment I nodded my head to acknowledge I understood his point of view. You see, my in-laws are from a rural Texas town.

Most people don’t enjoy traffic, but I usually handle it well. I expect it in cities as large as Denver.  We continued on with our day and had fun in the mountains. On our way back we encountered more traffic. Surprise!

The next day we decided to go down to Colorado Springs and around the dreaded Larksburg section of I-25 we encountered…More traffic! You guessed it! We had a wonderful time down there and were lucky enough not to miss rush hour on Monument Hill. More Traffic!

While I mentioned most of the  time traffic doesn’t bother me, I was getting annoyed spending extra hours in our day encountering so many people.

As I tried to be patient, I would start to feel my blood pressure rise as fancy sports cars and luxury cars began to shoot in-between cars. Left lane. Right  Lane. Left Lane. Right Lane.

I thought to myself, “People are nuts. As far as you can see there is a sea of taillights. Where are you going to go... driving like Jeff Gordon?"

I’ve seen this behavior in people before and it isn’t long before  one car will misjudge and run right into another car. “ Congratulations! Take A Bow! You just made a bad situation worse,” is what I want to say at times like this, but I usually just keep moving and let the emergency crews handle it.

The rest of our weekend was enjoyable and it came time for me to take my in-laws to DIA. When we arrived, I parked my car and walked them inside. They had to go check their bags and so I stepped aside to wait.

This time there were no cars, but  I couldn’t believe how many people were in line. I couldn’t believe how slow the ticket counter was working. In my times of traveling I had not encountered a situation like this before. Not at Christmas. Not going to Destin, FL. Not going to Disney World. What in the world was happening? To steal a phrase from my daughter and the YouTubers she watches, “THREE DAYS LATER,” my in-laws finally made it through the line, had bags checked, and tickets in hand.

I walked them over to security and we told each other goodbye. I told them I would wait to make sure they got through security before I left. As they got in line I walked to the balcony above them.

Watching the frantic world below me like a hawk, God started to speak to me.

“Kyle, look at everyone down there. There is a world of frazzled people. All of them in a hurry. All different. Other people are an inconvenience to all of them. There are people with messy hair and in sweats. People dressed like they are going on a first date. People with one shoe on and cannot find the other one. How did they lose it? They were only in the line 5 min. Little babies crying. Grown adults crying. Frowny faces. Smiling faces. Hands in the air. Hands in air that could have used more deodorant. Hugs. Kisses. Waves. Frustrated TSA workers, etc.”

With a “bird’s eye view” God showed me a glimpse of His perspective. He can see all the chaotic people in this world. All the people that drive us crazy. All the knuckle heads in traffic. All the people in the grocery store that give you road rage when you are not driving. All the people that just bothered me all weekend long. God simply told me “Kyle, I love them all.  I love them for all their quirkiness.  If you love me, you’ll feed my sheep. If you love me, you’ll love others.”

You see, in a way God removed me from the scene and reinforced the love He has for every human being. 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“But God , demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

It was a wonderful reminder that the world isn’t all about Kyle. It was a wonderful reminder to extend the love, forgiveness, compassion, and generosity that God has shown me.

The next time you are in DIA, take a moment and look down at the people in security. Take a peep through God’s perspective. You’ll see how goofy humanity looks from a far and be reminded that God loves us as we are.

The next time you are in traffic and it is a pain in the backside, remember  that God still loves those around you.  Remember that you and I are another car in that giant beautiful mess and from God’s perspective all of us are special despite the jacked up ways we treat each other.

 For God so loved the world, that he gave…His Son, Jesus Christ.

 For God so loved the world, that he gave… help

For God so loved the world, that he gave… patience.

For God so loved the world, that he gave… kindness

For God so loved the world, that he gave…  forgiveness

For God so loved the world, that he gave… compassion

For God so loved the world, that he gave… Peace

For God so loved the world, that he gave… Love  

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