It was the summer of 1985. It had been really hot and really muggy. Where we lived had no air conditioning. Open the windows and set up fans. Miserable. One evening in late July, my four year old son came to me. “Daddy, can I sleep outside tonight?” Interesting question. I thought for a couple of seconds. “Well, you can sleep outside only if I can sleep outside with you.” His face lit up. “Yeah! Let’s sleep outside!” Mommy wasn’t too happy, but so long as I was there, she figured it would be OK. After all, she told Adam, if anything comes up that is hungry it will eat your father first because he is bigger. That was said to scare the little guy, but he just giggled.

          About nine o’clock we went out and laid a blanket on the ground. A couple of pillows and we were all set. We lay on our backs and looked at the sky. Adam talked and talked until I told him we needed to just lay still and be quiet. In a couple of minutes, we heard the wind pick up. Clouds started to move across the stars. What was left of last year’s leaves started skittering across the yard. I thought in my mind, ‘OK, he’s going to want to go inside now.’ Instead, I heard a real quiet laugh.

          “Is something funny, son?” “Just thinkin’. Why do people even want to sleep inside?”

          Indeed. A summer breeze may be the most relaxing sound in the world. That, and waves crashing on the shore. But the movement of the wind brings so many things. Soft caresses, distant sounds, smells. From the breeze you can tell what the weather is soon going to be, you can hear voices from well down the road and you can gather the knowledge that Mrs. Wilson from way down the road has baked a couple of apple pies. Central A/C has ruined a lot of what a breeze can tell us, as has traffic noises and television, but if you indulge yourself, the movement of wind brings all manner of information.

          When the breeze strengthens to a wind, it can become something else. It can become dangerous. I belong to an exclusive little club. I have been in a vehicle in a hurricane, a tornado and a waterspout when it came roaring ashore. Hurricane Frederick hit South Florida like a sack of bricks. I was supposed to be somewhere, so I told Marsha to stay put, I was headed out. How dangerous could it be? They fly planes into hurricanes. Made sense, sort of. (Note to church; next time you are interviewing a pastoral candidate, ask him if he ever willingly drove in a hurricane. If he did, DO NOT INVITE HIM BACK! He is an idiot.) For the tornado, Marsha was driving. She actually did remarkably well, all things considered. Between the screams. The tornado was ripping through a corn field, which we couldn’t see because of the trees. When it hit the trees it elevated some as it crossed the road. I don’t know how high it was, but I do know it went over head. The roof of the car popped up (and stayed that way) and it felt like the wheels left the pavement. The tornado dropped into the field on the other side of the road and went on its merry way. The car was fine, except that the doors were a little hard to open and there was a funny looking dome on top. I was driving for the waterspout. A waterspout is a vortex over water, usually not as severe as a tornado because it is picking up water, which is heavier than dirt and dust. They rarely come ashore, spinning out fairly quickly because of the weight of the water. One evening the conditions were just right and I suggested to the wife that we go down and see if we could see a waterspout over Lake Erie. The particular park I wanted to go to had lights that shone out over the Lake to warn ships of the rocky shore. They also let you see out in the dark. Just as we entered the park, a spout raced onto shore. Immediately the car was beat with hailstones that left big dents in the metal. The wind was intense and water was everywhere. I got turned around and took off. We couldn’t seem to get away from it. The noise was so loud we couldn’t talk to each other. We were almost home before it let up, but we only lived a few doors away from the Lake and could hear the pounding of the surf all night. We got in our driveway and, in the relative quiet, I could hear my heart pounding. Marsha had her head down and was bent over in her seat. She slowly looked up with a big smile. “THAT WAS AWESOME!” Yeah…..

          This is the month for wind, and I love wind. Little soft breezes, big blowing gales. Each one tells our very souls something. It is just a natural thing.

          In the Bible the Hebrew word for the movement of air is ‘ruwach’ and the Greek word is ‘pneuma.’ You know what the word means by the context in which it is used, whether it is gentle or fierce or anywhere in between. But both words are also translated as Spirit, as in the Holy Spirit. When the Lord chose a word to describe the third in the Trinity, He chose a word that meant the movement of air. It could be a soft whisper, it could be a hearty breeze, it could be a roar. It is perfect, really. Like the wind, the Holy Spirit can come up at any moment. The Spirit can be a soft and gentle nudging or He can grab hold of our lives and put us on a completely different path. The Spirit can make it hard to walk in the direction we want to walk and He can give us a boost. The wind can bring us comfort with a gentle touch on tear stained faces and the same wind can lift a kite to new heights or billow a sail to move us forward. In the same way, the Spirit brings us comfort in times of distress (Jesus calls Him the Comforter) and the Spirit gives us the power to step up and bring a witness to the world. The Spirit is the very thing that enables us to stand for Jesus. A lot of people believe that if they are excited by a praise song or fiery preaching that they are in the Spirit. But the true evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the ability to share the love and power of Jesus with others. The rest is emotionalism. Nothing wrong with emotionalism, but the Holy Spirit changes our lives so we can change others. If it is just emotions, then it is empty.

          Little kids (and their grown up Dads) don’t sleep under the stars much anymore. Heat and humidity does not drive them out because the central air units hum along pushing cool air through the house. Kids might sleep in a tent for a few nights, but that novelty soon wears off. The house, with closed windows, shields us from the storms and winds of nature. In the same way, all kinds of things keep the Holy Spirit from getting through. Busy schedules, other concerns, sometimes even church blocks the Holy Spirit. We think we are aware of the Spirit, but it isn’t changing our lives. When we are open to the Holy Spirit, our lives change, not just our emotions.

          A four year old boy, lying on his back and looking at the stars, laughs quietly and asks, “Why do people even want to sleep inside?” That should be us as Christians. Why do we want to clutter our lives so much that we miss on the blessing of the Spirit?

You can’t share Jesus? You can’t comfort some poor soul? You can’t look to the future with confidence without knowing what the future will bring? Jesus sent the Spirit; we just have to let Him work.