Melchizedek, I can relate. For the most part, I lean toward the perspective which depicts Christ returning as the head of a body of believers who have been enlightened (lifted up, awakened, transformed). Meeting Him in the air may very well represent having our consciences raised into the heights where He abides, i.e., in a “place” where He is able to work through us as He desires. The Apostle Paul continually makes references to awakening from sleep, putting on Christ, having the mind of Christ, being renewed, bringing every thought into captivity, and so on; I can’t help but think that he was attempting to convey that we are supposed to experience a heightening of awareness, a collective uplift of some kind which would allows us to fully see and grasp what is truly happening in the spirit realm, where the dead and the living meet in the air (in the clouds), which may very well represent a higher realm of consciousness.
Either that or he’s going to come down on a fluffy cloud, and he’s going to grab a bunch of people and take them up into the clouds–and we’ll simply hope these are not stormclouds, and that we’ll soar through them like jets and hang out in the atmosphere, garbed in white, harps in our hands, rainbows all around us, visions of sugarplums dancing in our eyes.
The former of these two seems more plausible to me. Not trying to be cynical in my whimsy; I am merely attempting to contrast some very divergent perspectives with, oh, just a touch of hyperbole. 
David
The Fluffy clouds view!!! Can’t say I buy into that one, though it does seem harmless!