The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from outer space.. I believe it was just last week for the first time in history to women did a and completed a spacewalk on the International Space Station all by themselves.

NASA posted this picture of one of the female astronauts sitting by a window in the International Space Station and looking out at Earth this beautiful, breathtaking, pristine blue globe just hanging in the sky with creamy white clouds swirled around it. It's breathtaking! When you look at the history of that term, the Overview Effect was first coined by a space writer named Frank White in 1987. It's described as a feeling of awe for our own planet, our home planet, and a sense of responsibility for taking care of it. They see Earth from space, they see it from a distance, and they're filled with this love for it.

This got me thinking about my journey with the Bible. You know, once I really started to study it and I understood that even though it's 66 books, it's one book even though there are over 40 different authors. There's one author, the Holy Spirit, even though it's many, many stories, that's one story of the God of the Universe who entered into His creation, made a son, gave the son a bride and they fell, they broke the creation.

So the rest of the Bible tells us the story of this incredible God who keeps making contact with his people and giving them hope. Finally, he re-enters his creation, this time as a baby, and his one and only Son dies for the broken people who keep rejecting Him. This God gives his son a bride, the church is the bride of Christ and knowing the overview of Scripture gives me this sense of awe. Because as I get closer, and I study it more, not from a distance, but up close, I start to see the beauty and the majesty of Christ and the magnificence of his plan. It is stunning!

I would encourage you to do that. I don't know where you are in life, but I would encourage you to think of the overview and then draw close. David said the Heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands and I think that the closer you get to the Scriptures, the closer you'll get to Christ, and the more you will fall in love with him.