To avoid my ho-hum attitude associated with taking earth and its marvels for granted, I try pretending. What if I lived in a distant galaxy and came to visit earth for the first time? What would I think of it all? I began my series on miracles with our atmosphere. I take it for granted. I breathe it in, walk around in it, view distant stars through it, and ignore the fact that without the atmosphere I would cease to exist.

Flight is another matter. I have never lost my awe over how we fill an airliner with people, luggage and fuel, lift tons into the same air I breathe, and fly hundreds of mil...