Wind in My Hair, Sand in My Shoes…

       Hurricane Sandy has just come up the east coast of North America, and we are feeling the effects of it with wind speed at 60 km to gusts of 100 km/hour.  The trees are bending in the wind, branches swaying back and forth.  The leaves have almost completely fallen off.  Last night at about 7 pm I had to (to save gas) ride my bike down the road about a kilometer.  As I was heading into the cold wind with my road bike, it was a struggle to move every meter, but then a gust would come and virtually stop me even though I tried to peddle.  Of course, what took me 15 min. to get there, with a ‘brisk’ tail wind only took me two minutes to get home!

       One of the reasons I love to ride my bicycle is the feel of the wind in my face.  It always brings a smile to my face.  Usually at some point of a longer journey, you might hear me singing cheerfully, “Wind in my hair, sand in my shoes, I’m hittin’ the highway, forgetting my blues…”  There is a wind that blows in my life more often then when I ride my bike.  He’s called the Holy Spirit and the reason many link Him to wind is because spirit in Hebrew and Greek means “breath” or “wind”.  Both a breath of air and breeze are appropriate ‘pictures’ of the Spirit of God. 

The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. That's the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."   Jh. 3:8 ISV

1.  Wind is powerful.  No man can control it: stop it, turn it, increase it, decrease it, or change its direction in an open field.  Man can harvest energy from it by utilizing technology, but man cannot create it (except for in small areas).  So the Holy Spirit is not subject to human control.  He ‘blows’ when and where He wants to!

2.  Wind is moving air.  It has its purposes like distributing seeds which fosters new life.  There are many seeds that would perish without finding ground to grow in.  As well, we need ‘fresh’ air to breathe in which ‘freshens’ our blood and organs.  The Spirit also helps with new life: Jesus said “…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (Jh. 3:5)  So He brings new life and ‘freshens’ the one we live.

3.  Wind is invisible, without shape or form.  We can’t see its source or its destination, only the effects it has on the environment.  The Spirit is like this: we can’t see Him, but we can see the effects He has on our lives and the lives of those around us as we are being transformed and made alive.

4.  Wind varies its performance.  Sometimes it is soft and gentle, other times gusty and fierce.  While soft it feels comforting and cooling in the heat, while other times can topple great things and make us shake (Mt. 11:7).  The Spirit usually breathes gently in our lives wooing us to the Lord.  Sometimes He is like a cold burst of air to wake us up.  Other times He convicts and helps us convert by showing us the power and judgment of God.

       The Holy Spirit is indispensable in my life.  It is Him blowing in my life that keeps me moving and singing the praises of my great and mighty God.  He blows life into this aching and tired body and helps me put my feet on the floor every morning to start moving.  It is He who draws me closer to my God and makes me long to be with Him.  The Holy Spirit is like the wind in my hair when I ride my bike- He truly helps me forget my blues!

                    Oh Lord,

                              send Your Holy Spirit to blow

                                              on all Your children today

                                                             bringing us new life in You!

Such a Little Part

       Friday evening my hubby informed me that the furnace would not work any longer.  He thought the problem might be the thermocouple.  (That’s the thingamajig that is like a temperature control in your furnace to keep you safe.)  Of course, this had to happen when it just turned cold!  Although hubby’s been back to work for months, we still have not cleared up all the debt incurred during his long lay off, and I prayed that this furnace issue would be resolved relatively inexpensively, but first I though we ought to try cleaning it out as it is older and a boiler system.  Though it was nearly impossible to reach the thermocouple area, I did my best to clean it too, all to no effect.

       As far as I could see, it was an exposed piece of metal that is only about 1 ½ in. long and less than 1/8 in. wide, and I thought to myself, how can this little bitty thing shut down this whole system?  Oh, and what discomfort it caused as we had to bundle up for the weekend until the repair man showed up on Sunday.  Hubby even had to miss church so that he’d be here for whenever the guy arrived!  Eventually he showed up, it was a problem with the thermocouple which he needed to replace, and now we are warm again.

       Two things come to mind when I think of this little part and the trouble it caused us.  One is that a bad part, even if it is small, can spoil much more than its own size.  So a little leaven (sin) can leaven the whole lump (defile the whole person) (1Cor. 5:6).  Also, the tongue which is only a little part of the body, if it goes bad (gossip, envious words) can cause big problems everywhere (Jm. 3:5,6).  I’m sure we all recognize these things, so I’ll not dwell on them any longer.  I’d like to continue writing on the positive side of the issue.

       There are a lot of people who don’t see the value in the things they do or in who they are.  They feel like a little fish in a big pond, and no one would miss them if they were gone.  They feel unremarkable, like anyone could take their place, and maybe even their looks are not outstanding.  Well, as for looks, even Jesus Christ did not stand out (Is. 53:2), and yet He most certainly changed the world in a big way- forever!

       That little thermocouple in our furnace keeps us safe from gas pouring out into our house and potentially causing an explosion.  So the prayer of one person could keep a church split, a disease, a mental breakdown etc. from happening to someone.  As for perceived size, just consider the hundreds of children who are making big differences all over the world (you can search them online).  That meal to that starving woman is no small thing!  We are all unique and no one can take our place without something important being lost.

       As for our value, yes we are wretches who can’t seem to do it all right or even get by a day without messing up, but consider this- if God made you (in His image even! Gen. 1:26,27) He believes you are needed here.  God watched us being formed in the belly and He thinks of us more often than we can count (Ps. 139).  Would He do those things if we were not valuable to Him?  He gave us a soul worth more than the world (Mt. 16:26).  Believers are co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), chosen, royal, holy and His own special people (1Pt. 2:9,10).  But the biggest proof that we are valuable to God lies in what He did for us.

       He sent a big part of Himself- His Son Jesus - down to us in a human body that suffered the troubles all humans do, watched as He grew and was persecuted, watched as He was tortured and killed, and watched as His Son’s blood poured out on the ground for our salvation even "while we were yet sinners" (Rom. 5:8).  Would God do that for someone who was not precious to Him?  If we say we are not valuable, than we say the blood of Jesus was worthless, and that God is stupid for making us.  Dare we say that?  If God considered us important enough to do all He did for us in the work of salvation, than we are valuable in His eyes, and therefore, logically, important to this world.

       So maybe we are just a little thermocouple in this life, barely able to be seen, hiding behind a lot of metal, looking small and insignificant in the bigger picture.  The reality may just be that we change the world by changing one person’s life without even knowing it.  God can do that in us, if we let Him.

Thank You Lord for considering us worth the life of Your Son!!!

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand…

Ps. 139:17,18

If Jesus were here…

       I’m just wondering what Jesus would think of how we live our lives today if He were walking the earth in human form again.  If He walked with us through our day, what would He think of all we do and say, and how we live?  What would He think about the things we see, the things we listen to, the attitudes we have and of society in general, and how we treat each other?  What would Jesus think about our relationship with the Father, and His place in our lives?  He lived in human flesh as we do so how did He live with the Father, and what exactly did He expect of us in regard to this?

John 17 (ISV):

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their message, v.20 (that’s us!)

that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are one. v.21,22 (how Jesus lived with the Father) (how we may live with the Father)

I am in them, and you are in me. May they be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you have loved them as you loved me. v.23 (Father loves us as He loved Jesus)

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, the world has never known you. Yet I have known* you, and these men have known that you sent me. v.24,25 (Jesus knew the Father and wanted us to be with Him)

I made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them."  v.26 (God’s love and Christ in us- that’s intimate!)

*have known- be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge),

  perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand