I saw Phil Keaggy play “March of the Clouds” about 1/2 of my lifetime ago, and had the great pleasure of telling him that this song reminds me of heaven. He smiled and said something like: “really?”
To me, this marching of the clouds symphonic illustration also has a strong ascending quality, a rising up toward heaven, kind of like in The Spiral Staircase Vision, but with no lonely downside, because the body of Christ is marching up the staircase together, towards God as ONE unit — everyone right with each other and finally, truly ‘in Christ’ — each led by the Holy Spirit.
I don’t know what Phil was thinking when he wrote this song, but it’s interesting that he chose the image of clouds marching across the sky. For every cloud is a unique, one-of-a-kind, though the entire sky is often filled with clouds that are all moving in exactly the same direction, moving as if ONE.
Paul’s picture in 1 Corinthians 12 is similar. “You are the body of Christ” (v. 27) One is a foot, another is an eye, etc., each having different spiritual giftings. But “there should be no schism in the body” (v. 25a). We need each other to be able to march as ONE — in Christ, our Head.
Rick Joyner’s vision comes to mind: “When we reached the level called “The Unity of the Brethren,” none of the enemy’s arrows could reach us.”
ONE will happen, and it will be glorious!!

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vAd1QOk80bw]A 1-minute tribute from the stupendous middle section

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ktUqHjXmk2Q]The March of the Clouds

A few of the YouTube comments:

“playing with the finger and the plectrum of God, he could calm an army of sauls.”

“This is the song that God plays at the cloud factory :)”

“If I had to define Phil Keaggy musically, I’d say this: His greatest talent and gift, I believe, isn’t just that he plays so well – its that he also knows exactly where and how to hang each note – as if he’s decorating with the music. He’s an artist more than a guitar player. He just paints with music.”