Yesterday we had another snow storm with strong winds. No surprise for those of us who live in Michigan near the lake. My power flickered on and off three times during the day. The blowing snow caused poor visibility and high drifts. Even though the sun is shining today we have a wind chill advisory.
On my many trips to Indianapolis, I travel on Route 65 through a corridor of wind turbines. I have seen their blades being transported on the expressway on huge flatbed trucks. The blades are massive! According to energy.gov the energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a generator to create electricity. Wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building or they can be connected to an electricity grid for more widespread electricity distribution. When the wind isn’t blowing, the blades don’t spin. You can’t just turbines on and off.
A few weeks ago I experienced a warmer wind while visiting my parents in Florida. I am wishing I was there now to escape this subzero temperatures in Michigan! The palm trees where swaying back and forth. My last day I was determined to get some sun even though it was only about 65 degrees and very windy. I headed over to the pool in the golf cart. It was blowing so badly that the cover for the cart blew off. Once at the pool I dragged a lounge chair by a post to block the wind. Without the wind is was actually warm enough to lay in the sun. I was determined!
The Holy Spirit is compared to wind in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is God. He is not an ït.” He is not a divine influence, nor a cloud, or a ghost, or a concept. He is a person possessing a will, intellect and emotions. He is the third person of the Trinity–co-equal with God and the Son. There is one God but He manifests himself in three persons. The Holy Spirit is given to us when we place our trust in Christ as our guarantee of eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22-23, Ephesians 1:13-14), teach us all things and will remind us of everything God has said (John 14:26).
We can hear the wind or see its perceptible effects. We can’t see wind, but we know there is wind because there is sound, or pressure against your skin, or branches and leaves flying in the air, or wind turbines moving, or the golf cart cover blows off, or a tree falls on your house (happened to me twice). So it is with the Holy Spirit. We can’t see him but we can see his effects, changes in us. The Holy Spirit blows where he wills, not where we deserve his blowing, and not where we think he should blow. We do not originate the movement of the Spirit, and we do not control the movement of the Spirit, just as we cannot control the movement of the wind. The Spirit works in ways we do not fully understand. The Holy Spirit works in the lives of those that are followers of God and his ways. He transforms, heals, empowers and equips us to do God’s work in the world
May we allow the Holy Spirit to blow in our lives where and however he see fit.
On the journey,
Trish