Like A Swirling Storm

Let me give you a clue...

THE WIND IS HOWLING

ALLDAYERRDAY

This week, winds reached 35+ mph, but it felt more like 100 mph. I'm not exaggerating! (Ok maybe I am just a wee bit exaggerating, but still!! I felt like I was gonna fall off this giant, extinct volcano 251 metres high!)

The wind is perhaps the #1 thing that has surprised me so far during my time here.

And it ain't a gentle summer breeze. It's more like the I'm-holding-onto-the-ground-and-rocks-for-dear-life.

So while standing at the summit, literally literally literally afraid for my life (heights are a bit of a phobia), this scary yet enlightening experience sort of compelled me to think about the analogy of how God's Spirit is like the wind. I've heard it before and read it in the Bible before, but I didn't really understand it. Only recently have I started understanding a bit more.

(PS in no way am I a theologian, nor am I a very knowledgeable person, so I did a little more researching and thinking and reading about this, and here's what I found...)

If you look at the original Hebrew, ruach means "air in motion". AKA breath. AKA wind. AKA spirit.
Similarly, the Greek word pneuma also means "a current of air." Breath, wind, spirit.

As I read more, I realized this image of spirit + wind appears a lot in the Bible.

We can't stop it.

Powerful
Captivating

It's a force to be reckoned with
And in various ways it manifests

From a cool, gentle breeze
To a stormy cyclone roaring,

We don't know where it's coming from
We don't know where it's going.

Powerful
Captivating

We can't stop it.

So too, it is, with God's Spirit.

God works in different ways and reaches people in different ways, but all with the same loving spirit, his. He sometimes calls us to listen to his still small voice (check out 1 Kings 19:12), while sometimes he gets our attention in other ways (like when light flashed around Paul on the road to Damascus!).

Ultimately, the wind subsided and I climbed down the volcano and gingerly trekked to the bottom and walked on the streets and sang songs of joy, but it's funny to me because earlier that day I had prayed I would meet God in an unexpected way that day.

He's both rushing wind and a still small voice saying do not be afraid for I am with you, always.