Wind
We had quite the winter storm last Friday, on Halloween. Snow, rain, sleet, some sort of mixture in between, and wind. Lots of wind. Some folks lost power. Some events had to be cancelled. Halloween was pretty quiet because of the very cold temperatures (though those who did get out seem to have gotten lots of candy!). Some people lost trees or had other damage. Leaves didn't fall slowly through the fall; they came off all at once.
We were at a restaurant for lunch when the worst of it hit, and when we got home we found the only real damage we had was our basketball goal had been blown over. Thankfully, it had been blown sideways and away from the house. And even the damage there wasn't anything to worry about. But I marveled at how strong that wind had been, because the base on the basketball goal is heavy. It's difficult to move around. And yet the wind on Friday took it down like it was nothing.
For something invisible, the wind has incredible power. It can uproot things. It can tear down or tear up things. It can rearrange a person's life.
No wonder the word used for the Holy Spirit in the Bible is "wind."
In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit arrives, we're told he came as a "mighty rushing wind." He blew through that upper room and rearranged the disciples' lives. Once, not that long before, they had been hiding, fearing that the ones who had killed Jesus might come and kill them next. In a moment, when the Spirit blew through their lives, they became fearless witnesses, boldly testifying to the Gospel of Jesus that very day. From men who had once been described as ordinary and unschooled, they became the greatest missionaries ever known.
And because of the power of the "wind" of the Spirit, they literally turned the world upside down. Two thousand years later, our world still has not recovered from what they did when the Spirit sent them out.
What about us? Are we willing to allow the "wind" to blow through our lives, to uproot and change what needs to be changing, to send us out to witness to what Jesus has done in our lives? Do we desire to make the kind of difference those first disciples did, so that two thousand years later, should Jesus tarry, the world is different because we were here? They were not any more powerful than we are, not more schooled and not stronger people. They simply allowed the wind to change their direction, to change their lives. What about us? What about you? Are you ready for the wind?
We were at a restaurant for lunch when the worst of it hit, and when we got home we found the only real damage we had was our basketball goal had been blown over. Thankfully, it had been blown sideways and away from the house. And even the damage there wasn't anything to worry about. But I marveled at how strong that wind had been, because the base on the basketball goal is heavy. It's difficult to move around. And yet the wind on Friday took it down like it was nothing.
For something invisible, the wind has incredible power. It can uproot things. It can tear down or tear up things. It can rearrange a person's life.
No wonder the word used for the Holy Spirit in the Bible is "wind."
In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit arrives, we're told he came as a "mighty rushing wind." He blew through that upper room and rearranged the disciples' lives. Once, not that long before, they had been hiding, fearing that the ones who had killed Jesus might come and kill them next. In a moment, when the Spirit blew through their lives, they became fearless witnesses, boldly testifying to the Gospel of Jesus that very day. From men who had once been described as ordinary and unschooled, they became the greatest missionaries ever known.
And because of the power of the "wind" of the Spirit, they literally turned the world upside down. Two thousand years later, our world still has not recovered from what they did when the Spirit sent them out.
What about us? Are we willing to allow the "wind" to blow through our lives, to uproot and change what needs to be changing, to send us out to witness to what Jesus has done in our lives? Do we desire to make the kind of difference those first disciples did, so that two thousand years later, should Jesus tarry, the world is different because we were here? They were not any more powerful than we are, not more schooled and not stronger people. They simply allowed the wind to change their direction, to change their lives. What about us? What about you? Are you ready for the wind?
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