No Fly Zone

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you can take spontaneous trips with your family. A few months ago, David had a continuing education class in McLean, Virginia. We were preparing to send him off for his 3-day trip when it occurred to him, "Why don't you come with me and take the kids into DC to see the Smithsonian while I'm at class?!" This had not even occurred to us, but I thought it was a great idea! The kids had been studying Ancient Egypt in their history lessons (Natural History Museum!), and our entire science curriculum this year was on astronomy (Air & Space Museum!), so my mind raced with the excitement of letting them see up close so much that would reinforce what they had been learning! In about five hours I had us all packed, hotel reservations made, plus a sitter arranged for our dog, Jack, and our fish, George (that has to be a record)!

We had a great time! The hotel had a shuttle service that would drop us off at the nearest Metro station and we would take the subway to the Washington Mall, and spent two days like that exploring! Since it was the middle of the week, we practically had the museums to ourselves! The last day we were there, the kids decided that they wanted to go up the Washington Monument. After enjoying the great view, they were delighted to discover a large tree nearby with low limbs just yards away from the monument, and within sight of the White House! While watching them climb and play, I noticed a flock of geese that had landed nearby, busily nibbling the grass. Earlier, I had described to the kids that parts of Washington DC have a "No Fly Zone" around it, and attempted to explain what that meant. Matthew, noticing the geese, said to me, "Airplanes can't fly over the White House, but birds can!" We laughed as we contemplated how birds could even land on the White House, and how they had no appreciation for whose lawn they had lighted upon -- the powerful person who dwells there and is unapproachable without special invitation!

This got my mind thinking about how we humans are a lot like those birds. Apart from Christ, we can have no real appreciation for whose world we have lighted upon, no concept of the awesome sovereignty and power of the One who allows us to dwell in His world! The "No Fly Zone" created by our sin that separated us from God has been lifted through the grace offered us in Christ! We are given special invitation to approach the Living God! Oh, that the eyes of the lost would be opened to see God for who He is, and worship!