Cloud Watching

CLOUD WATCHING – A PHOTOJOURNEY

Clouds aren’t what they seem from down below. We can’t really walk on them, nor are they cottony soft as they appear when we look up at them. Clouds aren’t permanent; they come and go.

I’m a cloud watcher, and I enjoy photographing interesting ones. As I did as a child, I still look for cloud pictures that float in the sky: dogs or ducks or airplanes or boats or dragons.

From science class we learn that clouds are made up of water or ice droplets that condense as warmer air rises from the ground into the cooler atmosphere of the sky. Usually, the droplets attach themselves to dust or pollen which form the condensation nuclei. The droplets gather together to form clouds.

Fog forms when the droplets condense close to the ground and form what we call fog banks. As the air warms, fog rises and evaporates.

Clouds portend fair weather and storms, play hide and seek with the moon, and offer shadowy comfort on hot summer days.

There are snow clouds:

And rainbow clouds:

And sunset clouds:

You get a completely different opinion of clouds when you fly above them, where they become part of the scenery below, or through them, when you’re tempted to reach out the window and touch them. It’s all a matter of perspective.

In the Bible book of James, we are reminded that our lives here on earth are like the clouds:

“Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life: It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:14

God promises eternal life, life forever with Him, through Jesus Christ:

“But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23b

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout…And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17