June 4, 2009

like the wind

Have you ever met someone who was too smart for their own good?  Someone who was so smart they were stupid?  I think we all have; sometimes book smarts and street smarts are mutually exclusive.

Have you ever met someone who was too spiritual for their own good?  Someone whose head was so far in the clouds they couldn't attend to earthly things?  I have, and up until this morning I've thought that perhaps they had it wrong; after all, Jesus didn't come to condemn the world (read physical things) but to save it.

But there is that line, that line that my very practical, very type-a, very tacticle mind wants to ignore, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whre it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." The image of the Holy Spirit from Wm. Paul Young's The Shack is exactly what I've thought to be a weakness in those who are head in the clouds spiritual; they flit about, always somewhere else, never really cognizant of what is going on around them.   And for me, that personality style, that way of interacting with God is frustrating, but, as Jesus says, it is the way of life for those born of the Spirit.

When you think about it, even the most practical, most type-a, most tactile follower of Jesus has a certain flitty quaility to him.  The pursuit of the dream of God requires flexibility, freedom, and a willingness to be blown around by the wind (which is a great play on words we miss in English - RUACH in Hebrew is wind, breathe, and Spirit).  I'm reminded that the only way I ended up meeting Cassie, hearing my call, and living in LA is by the whim of the wind of the Spirit.

Are you open to the wind?

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