{"id":292,"date":"2011-05-23T07:24:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T13:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/eyes-on-the-sky\/"},"modified":"2011-05-23T07:24:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T13:24:00","slug":"eyes-on-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes on the sky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled.<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff
\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<\/em><\/a>So this is how they inflate these balloons?<\/em>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
She showed us \u201chelpers\u201d how to clip on the basket and where to tie\u00a0the ropes. It\u2019s all surprisingly simple and low tech\u00a0\u2014 except of course\u00a0for the bursts of flame that with a whoosh heat the air and\u00a0stretch the fabric. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Soon, I felt the balloon begin to tug the rope\u00a0in my hand. It won\u2019t be long.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n

With a broad smile, she nodded. It was time to let go. The balloon\u00a0quickly shot into the air,\u00a0separating\u00a0it from all ties of earth.<\/p>\n

My face leaning backward in the morning sun, I wanted to be the one\u00a0in the balloon<\/em>.\u00a0To float away, watching the\u00a0earth\u00a0slowly disappear with\u00a0nothing but the sound of the wind in my ears. <\/p>\n

\n
Those of us left behind\u00a0clutched the business card in our hands. \u201cCall this number for the ride of your life.\u201d<\/div>\n
Yes, one day.<\/div>\n

Later that day was supposed to be the end of the world<\/a>. Although everyone dismissed Harold Cam<\/a>ping as a matter of theology<\/a> and practicality, deep inside I\u00a0secretly wished he were right<\/strong><\/u><\/em>.<\/p>\n

It would be a chance\u00a0to say goodbye to trouble, to fear, to sickness and pain. A last hurrah to all of this.<\/p>\n

\n
But here I am, standing on the earthen ground, watching the orbs float in the distance. Thinking. Dreaming. One day, I\u2019ll fly.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Care to comment? <\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.
\nRead all past issues at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffSo this is how they inflate these balloons? She showed us \u201chelpers\u201d how to clip on the basket and where to tie\u00a0the ropes. It\u2019s all surprisingly simple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEyes on the sky<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eyes on the sky\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pDGT_yQ6VE0\/TdpVN_WMkOI\/AAAAAAAABZ8\/p4k-MX8h10w\/s320\/IMG_2375.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/\",\"name\":\"Eyes on the sky\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eyes on the sky\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com\",\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eyes on the sky","description":"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eyes on the sky","og_description":"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/","og_site_name":"David Rupert","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","article_published_time":"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-pDGT_yQ6VE0\/TdpVN_WMkOI\/AAAAAAAABZ8\/p4k-MX8h10w\/s320\/IMG_2375.JPG"}],"author":"David Rupert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rupzip","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Rupert","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/","name":"Eyes on the sky","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-23T13:24:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81"},"description":"I held the edge of the fabric high while a large fan blew the air into the cavernous inside. It was surprising how quickly the\u00a0balloon filled. \ufeff\ufeff \ufeff\ufeff","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/eyes-on-the-sky\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eyes on the sky"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/","name":"David Rupert","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81","name":"David Rupert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Rupert"},"description":"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. I dream big and with that comes even bigger prayers.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.redletterbelievers.com","www.facebook.com\/davidrupert","https:\/\/twitter.com\/rupzip"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/author\/drupert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}