WIND OF THE SPIRIT!

‘Sound Garden’, photo on Wikipedia – fair use image.

Wind is invisible, but you can see and feel its effects.  It moves the leaves on the trees which in turn wave good morning to me.  It brings me cool air in my air-conditioned spaces, thank God!

It ripples the surface of the water and makes waves on the ocean.  You look out the window of an airplane and realize there is nothing out there and yet it is giving you a ride!  You can’t see it, but you know it’s there.                            

People are fascinated by the wind.

My wife and I visited the ‘Sound Garden’ created by Douglas Hollis in Seattle several times. (See photo above).  It is a garden with pipe organ pipes mounted on poles that act like windmills, always facing the wind.  The air blowing across the end of the pipes creates an eerie, wonderful sound, its pitch depending on the size of the pipe.  Douglas also created an Aeolian Harp installed at the end of pier 15 in San Francisco.  It is there, ‘singing in the wind’ as the San Francisco Chronicle put it.  An Aeolian Harp is a ‘stringed instrument that produces musical sounds when a current of air passes through it.  (New Oxford American Dictionary).  You can see and hear these sculptures by clicking on the links below.  (See also the Kinetic Sculptures and the ‘Singing, Ringing Tree’ videos). 

While viewing these videos, I heard a man say, “Shoot, the wind is not blowing today, and the sculpture won’t work.  Oh, well we’ll come back another day.”

Did you know that the Holy Spirit is also referred to as ‘the wind’?    

‘The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’  John 3:8.

In addition, Jesus said in John 15:5, “apart from me, you can do nothing.”  Isn’t that interesting, the sculptures won’t work without wind and neither will you without the ‘wind of the Spirit’!!!

Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is invisible, yet you can see its effects in the people He touches.

I vividly remember Geri, a teen-age girl who wandered into my youth group one night.  She sauntered in with a distinct attitude, smoking a cigarette.  She stayed!  She was born again!  You couldn’t see the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, but you could certainly see the effect on her!  She became very sweet and mellow, a lover of God and everyone else!!!

I couldn’t see the Holy Spirit reaching down and removing me from my motor scooter, saving me from certain death.  

I couldn’t see, but could hear the Holy Spirit speak to me many times:
like the words, ‘don’t step there’ that saved me from being bitten by a copperhead snake.

Telling me to ‘remain in the gift I’d been given’ (which was sculpture) and helped me make a decision to attend Graduate School at the University of Washington.  I received a Master’s Degree in Sculpture which paved the way for my entire career as a Professor of Art.

I couldn’t see Him, but I heard His voice as I was praising Him say, ‘stop the truck’ three times.  I finally stopped the truck, and He anointed me from my head to my toes with His love….

He did it again on the campus of Oral Roberts University when I desperately needed to make a decision to accept or decline a teaching position. He stopped me in my tracks, anointing me again with His presence and I listened. He said, “this is where I want you.  I will give you a brand-new beginning.  I will bless you and bless people through you.”  It made the decision easy.  We moved to Oklahoma!

And then there was my salvation!  When I asked Jesus into my heart, I was, (as they say), ‘hit with a bucket of love’!  He filled me with His love.  The experience was undeniable.

So, is it any wonder why I believe?  He makes His presence known, even though, like the wind, you can’t see Him.  And there are countless numbers of people who bear the same testimony of His presence in their lives!  

LET THE WIND OF HIS SPIRIT BLOW ON YOU!!

A Sound Garden – Seattle, Washington.

These Kinetic Sculptures Hypnotize You.

Aeolian Harp by Douglas Hollis.

The Singing, Ringing Tree.
https://youtu.be/4B0hGyKV9qs?si=C0JEmZ5TMHOc6aij