Let the Wind Blow Like a Hurricane

I was sitting on the front porch swing this morning like I normally do when it’s not 110 degrees.  Suddenly, my dog, “Stupid”, ran off after a squirrel.  She’s cute as a bug and tiny, but she thinks she’s as big as our German Shepherd.  She’s also…. #1 not named “Stupid”, #2 Not very smart and #3 Infuriatingly stubborn.  I sat on the porch yelling for her to come back because the number of times that our neighbors have picked her up out of the road and brought her home is embarrassing.  She likes to chase cars, hence, the nick name of “Stupid”.

Anyway, I couldn’t see where she was so I waited 10 minutes while yelling at her like a crazy woman before I got up to find her.  I guess she’s learning because, uncharacteristically, she wasn’t in the road.  She was comfortably sitting under the tree in the comfy sand just taking in the morning. Because doing the same thing over and over and expecting something to change is normal for a crazy person, I kept calling her like I had been for 15 minutes.  She continued to give me that “I’m not moving but you’re funny” look. So,  I finally  walked over to pick her up.

As I got to where she was, I stopped.

It was so different!

That very spot in the yard was the exact place where the morning breeze was blowing through in such a refreshing and beautiful way.

I’m all about aesthetics and how something feels so maybe you’ll think I’m crazy but in this exact spot, it was beautiful. “Stupid” had figured something out that I hadn’t.  On the porch, it may not have been 110’ but it was humid and stuffy.  I’d been comfortable, but I’d been ignorant to the atmosphere just 30 feet away from me.  An atmosphere that was fresh, cool, invigorating and beautiful. But “stupid” wasn’t stupid.  She’d found it and she wasn’t about to move.

To be fair, I recognized how nice it was in that spot but I picked her up so I wouldn’t have to chase her down  in my PJs and brought her back to the porch without much thought.

Enter Spotify.

I like to listen to new music when I can and worship is the heartbeat of who I am, so I had randomly browsed a station for that kind of thing when I got back to the porch only to hear a song called “Catch the Wind” by Melissa Helser.   As I looked over my yard, I thought, “How often, Lord, do we stay in places where we are comfortable instead of stepping out into the uncomfortable?  Instead of stepping out into the places where we  find the movement of your Spirit? The flow of who you are? How often do we miss catching the wind?”

I knew God was speaking to my heart.  Maybe he’s speaking to yours.

Whether it’s a place of comfort, a place of staleness or a place of pain in which you find some sort of security in identifying with that pain…are you in a place in which you aren’t feeling the move of the Holy Spirit?  He is active! He is vibrant! He refreshes! He resuscitates those things that are dead!

My heart is crying for that.

For God’s people to step out of what they know and walk boldly into what He is doing.

The power that He is.

The love that He shares.

The truth that He speaks.

The peace that He pours.

The salvation that He lavishes.

It takes humility. It takes submission.  It takes obedience and abandoning our own agenda.  It takes trust and faith and hope that there is something new and powerful that only God can do.  It takes worship and laying down our desires for His desires!

It can be painful…no…torturous.  But oh my Lord…it is worth it.

To stand in the flow of the Holy Spirit and the things that he wants to do in and through us is like nothing in this world! It’s different! It’s beautiful.   And it’s my prayer.

Oh my Jesus…do that in me.  Do that in my family.  Do that in my church. Do that in your people.

Help us to reject what is comfortable and step boldly, stubbornly and defiantly into the flow of your Holy Spirit. I don’t want to live another day without it!

Amen!!