It’s a view few have experienced firsthand but those who have, received an insight to life on earth.
Look And See
Rusty Schweikert was an American astronaut on Apollo 9 in 1969. On a trip to space he discovered a view to live by on earth.
“Up there you go around every hour and a half, time after time after time. You go across North Africa and out over the Indian Ocean, and Ceylon off to the side, Burma, Southeast Asia, and up across that monstrous Pacific Ocean. You’ve never realized how big that is before.
And you finally come up across the coast of California and look for those friendly things: Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and Houston. There’s home. And the next thing is you’re identifying with North Africa. When you go around in an hour and a half you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing.”
Rusty took this picture of his teammate, David Scott.
“You look down there and you can’t imagine how many borders and boundaries you crossed. At the Mideast you know there are hundreds of people killing each other over some imaginary line that you can’t see. From where you see it, the thing is a whole, and it’s so beautiful. And you wish you could take one from each side in hand and say, “Look at it from this perspective. Look at that. What’s important?”
The Overview Effect
His perspective is shared by astronauts from multiple countries.
Sigmund Jahn, East Germany — “Before I flew I was already aware of how small and vulnerable our planet is. But only when I saw it from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realize that humankind’s most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future
Aleksandr Aleksandrov, USSR — “We were flying over America and suddenly I saw snow, the first snow we ever saw from orbit. I imagined that the arrival of autumn and winter is the same the<p>re as in other places, and the process of getting ready for them is the same. And then it struck me that we are children of our Earth. It does not matter what country you look at. We are all Earth’s children.”
Neri-Vela, Mexico — “From space I see myself as one more person among the millions and millions who lived, live, and will live on Earth. Inevitably, this makes one think about our existence and the way in which we should live to enjoy, to share, our short lives as fully as possible.”
Edgar Mitchell, USA — “On the return trip home, gazing through 240,000 miles of space toward the stars and the planet from which I had come, I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent, loving, harmonious. It occurred when looking at Earth and seeing this blue-and-white planet floating there… that suddenly there was a non-rational way of understanding that had been beyond my previous experience.”
God’s Love
Jesus calls us to see the world as God sees it.
God takes a look at the whole world…
…all of our artificial borders and divisions…
…all of our tribal natures and petty grievances…
…all of our wars and selfish greed and destruction of the world itself…
And instead of condemning us to harsh judgment…God LOVES the world, and sent Jesus as a way for us to overcome all of these things.
As we approach 2026, take the over view. Less division. Less polarization. End rage farming. See through the lens of the cross.
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