I laid in bed awake for much of last night.  Nor for the normal reasons.  No one was snoring :-), the dogs didn’t need to go out, my mind wasn’t racing.  None of that.  I was simply afraid that  large flying objects were going to come crashing through our bedroom window.  No I haven’t lost my mind (not completely, any way).  I’m not talking about aliens in space craft.  I’m talking about lawn furniture and bbq’s and fence posts and trees.  Anything in my yard or my neighbor’s yard that wasn’t nailed down.  The wind came with a vengeance last night.  And its affects are all over the streets and yards this morning.

The sound of it was almost haunting.  You could hear the power in its loud moaning and sharp whistling.  It was a mixture of shouting and singing. It was as if it was declaring its enormity and strength.  “I may be invisible, but I cannot be ignored,” it bellowed. Its voice carried throughout the city, calling leaves from their trees and making inanimate objects dance.  Everything was affected by this wind.  Even if you were inside hiding from it, you could hear what was happening because of it.  Today it will be the talk of the town.  Everyone impacted, though they never actually saw it.  But oh, could you feel it.  It was very real, very present and very powerful.  And you couldn’t step out into it without being at least slightly moved.

You know, of course, where I’m going with this.  There are so many similarities between the wind and God Himself.  Invisible yet present.  Powerful.  Impactful.  Moving and changing things and people. Invoking both awe and reverent fear.

I love how Jesus gave us real life stories of His experiences on earth with real humans just like us.  His best friends also experienced fear of the wind and storms when they were out on their fishing boats.  Mark 4 and Matthew 8 recount the story for us.  In the middle of the crazy wind, rain and stormy weather, Jesus is sleeping at the back of the ship.  Sleeping, because He is at complete rest after a day filled with public speaking, performing miracles and constant interaction.  He is exhausted – spiritually, emotionally, physically –  but He is also fully at peace because He knows that He has utter authority over this storm.  He is THE GREAT WIND.  Mere earthly storms with their loud boastfuleness do not intimidate Him.

His friends run to Him to wake Him up.  They are fully panicked and don’t understand why He can sleep and isn’t more concerned about their welfare.  With three words He commands the wind to stop and the storm to die down.  “Quiet!  Be Still!”  Immediately, everything was calm.  The King of the wind and the storm had spoken.

He didn’t have to stop the storm.  His presence with these men would have been enough to get them through the storm.  But in this case, He knew their faith still needed some tweaking, so He gave them yet another miracle.

One thing that I noticed in the passage in Mark that I had never seen before is that it says there were “also other boats” with Him.  That means there were other terrified men in boats nearby who were experiencing the same storm, but didn’t have Jesus in the boat with them.  They experienced the miracle that Jesus was performing, without even having asked for His help.  It struck me that when Jesus does something miraculous in our lives, when He transforms us or our situations or both, it has an impact on the others around us as well.  They can experience encouragement and healing from His work in our lives.  They can experience HIS power through OUR lives.  They experience the visible effects of the invisible WIND who is our God.

I hope that this post makes some sort of sense.  The more I wrote, the more God showed me in His word.  I apologize if the random pathway of my brain caused anyone to get lost!

Read these passages for yourself and see what God shows you.  And if you live here in Parker, Colorado, step outside and feel the still-blowing analogy of the wind.  Powerful…

Mark 4:35-41 – 

³⁵ That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.There were also other boats with him. ³⁷ A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸ Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

⁴⁰ He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Matthew 8 – 23-27

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”