When I was very young I stopped believing in God when the instructor at Sunday School told me he lived up in the clouds.
Why do you think God is portrayed as having is home up in the clouds?
Is it symbolic of his being "on high," elevated above the Creation?
Is it symbolic of a being existing behind a veil of mystery?
Been to the clouds, didn't see him. God's used to live in the mountains but we went there and didn't find him. Then he lived in the clouds, but we went there and didn't find him. Then he lived beyond the earth and we went there, but did not find him. So now he exists beyond the universe, better hope we never figure out how to get there cause he'll pack his crap and move again, maybe to another dimension or something.
They try to teach children abstract concepts in a literal fashion, which results in the children developing a literal understanding of what was not initially meant to be taken literally. Such as the Noah's ark story, any theologian who not a complete moron understands that the world did not flood in 40 days and nights, unless the sheer weight of the meters of rainfall requred for such a feat to occur crushed noah's pathetic little boat. But it is taught in a literal fashion rather often, and kids think it's supposed to actually be true. Impressionable little buggers, that's why they gotta be protected.
But to answer your other questions, yeah I'd say it is symbolic of him being someplace beyond where humans can get through natural means. Hence why he's now beyond the universe, cause we can't get there.