wind damage

This morning I was out uncovering the early spring seedlings (cabbage, lettuce, onions, etc.) that I had tried to protect from a hard frost and high winds. I had grown these seedlings indoors over the winter under grow lights in order to plant them in my greenhouse/hoophouse late in the winter to get a jumpstart on garden veggies this year. The only problem was that after two attempts at covering my hoophouse frame with platic sheeting and having it blown off in very high winds (50+ mph gusts), I decided to try putting my seedlings out in the garden bed under the protection of remay cloth. But again, the wind wrecked havoc with my efforts, and although many of my seedlings have actually survived, many didn't. I have yet to perfect a way to grow early vegetables so that they can survive not only freezing temperatures, but also high winds. The high winds that we tend to get this time of year are by far the bigger challenge than freezing temperatures.

The Holy Spirit is also a wind, as Jesus told Nicodemus, and as the account of the Spirit coming at Pentecost indicates. You may have heard of the book by Mel Tari, LIKE A MIGHTY WIND (which I highly recommend). It is an eye witness account of one of the most remarkable revivals of the 20th century, which took place in Indonesia, and contributed to the beginning of the charismatic renewal that literally swept around the globe and impacted every branch and denomination of Christianity in the 1970's. Here in the Midwest we have what are called "storm chasers" - professional meteorologists as well as average, non-professionals who are fascinated by midwestern storms that so often are the sources of violent, damaging winds and tornadoes. These "storm chasers" literally will drop whatever they're doing and head to the vicinity of where a storm is brewing in order to observe as close as they dare, the inner makings of a tornado.

In some respects I consider myself a spiritual storm chaser. Because I'm married and have a family I can't just up and run to wherever the Holy Spirit seems to be stirring things up. But I did move my family halfway across the country to North Carolina to where I felt God's Spirit was moving in an especially powerful way, back in 1997. When I was in high school in California I especially enjoyed visiting a Jesus Peoples house in the city where we lived, called Home for His Glory. It was a place where I sensed a special, unique moving of the Spirit. Throughout my adult life I have been drawn and attracted to places where I felt the Spirit was moving in a new and fresh way. I longed to experience that abundant life in the Spirit that Jesus promised that those who followed him and obeyed him could experience.

Have I been satisfied that my "storm chasing" has born the fruit I have longed for? Yes and no. Very few literal storm chasers have the satisfaction of finally seeing "the big one" up close. I am no longer wanting to go to some geographical location to experience a "move of the Spirit". But that hunger and longing has never waned within me. I cry out for it almost daily. I believe those who have a proven track record with prophetic words who say that we are on the verge of the greatest move of the Spirit the Church and the world has ever seen. It will be like a tidal wave, carrying to new heights those who are prepared, waiting and ready. If we aren't prepared, that same wave that can carry a surfer so high and so far, can also wreck havoc of our status quo.

I am convinced more than ever that "winds of change" are now blowing across the land and they will only increase in intensity. It is happening in the physical realm to alert us to the fact that it is also beginning to happen in the spiritual realm. There's nothing automatic about catching and riding on the energy of the wind of the Spirit. I believe that the single most important way that we can prepare to catch and ride the wave (or wind) that is coming, is to simply want it more than anything else. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we let other things take first place they will suffer wind damage. I have never surfed, but I do know what it is like to be caught on the underside of a big wave and be tossed and turned head over heels. It's much better to ride the energy of the wave than to feel its destructive power pummeling your body!

There is a mighty wave coming. We must get in the proper place to catch and ride it, or we will suffer loss. I don't know the reference, but there is a scripture that says we can either "fall on the rock (i.e.Jesus)" - and suffer whatever pain that may bring. Or else the rock will fall on us - we will suffer the consequences of going our own way. Are we aware of the way that God is moving in our world today, and are we making the necessary adjustments to move with Him? Or will we be caught unawares?