Blown Away
What’s going on???
I know, I know. A lot of bad, dark, scary stuff.
But lift your gaze a little higher…
Look up, child.
There’s something stirring.
It’s wind. (Gentle breezes rustling the leaves in the trees.)
It’s fire. (Sparking embers flickering into flames.)
It’s living water. (A million diamonds dancing on its surface.)
If you hold still… look around… listen… you’ll notice. Something’s happening here.
It’s irrepressible and real, electrifying and exhilarating.
Young and old, humbled and hungry, hitting their knees… and having the audacity to reach heavenward.
College kids crying out, confessing, coming clean and coming near to God.
Folks being baptized in flatbeds and kiddie pools and ice-bath tubs.
People coming to the end of themselves… and finding someone there… waiting with open arms and a whole new life.
American Idols and college football players and ordinary people (like you and me) daring to fan the flames of faith and hope.
Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven. ~ John 3:8 (TLB)
You know what I think?
God is working wonders.
Aslan is on the move.
(And I’m here for it.)
Remember during the Covid lockdown when John Krasinski was reporting “Some Good News” amidst all the fear and sickness and isolation and loss and heartbreak? We needed that. Someone to tell us the good stuff, help keep us afloat in a pandemic of distress and despair and death.
We still need it.
Good News, that is.
There are some incredible things to report right now. Great stuff (amidst all the wreckage). And something utterly sublime ahead.
Something that sounds like freedom… smells like teen spirit… tastes like…
Lemonade.
(Let me back up.)
A couple weeks ago, a recording artist named Forrest Frank broke his back in a skateboarding accident. Despite excruciating pain and shattering uncertainty, he kept recording his life, flat on his back – his observations, his insights, his music and lyrics. A few days later, another artist, Tauren Wells, paused mid-set, to pray – with a venue full of concertgoers – for Forrest. Meanwhile The Figs, a couple of guys trying to break onto the music scene, wrote a song called “Lemonade,” echoing Forrest’s style. Unbeknownst to them, after his accident, Forrest had posted to Instagram with this caption:
Turning lemons into lemonade…
Wait… what?!
Forrest saw The Figs‘ video, recorded his response… and then the three artists produced a collaboration which skyrocketed straight to the top of the charts.
But the story gets better…
After the prayers and the song and the viral backstory… God healed Forrest. He stood, walked, held his son… and two nights ago, he performed “Lemonade” live onstage with The Figs, singing, dancing, delighting the crowd, praising God… and giving him all the glory.
What is God up to? I don’t know. But I want in.
I’m hungry for his Spirit, listening for his voice, eager to see what he’ll do and how he’ll do it.
Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here. ~ Jeremiah 33:3 (TLB)
I want to believe God’s promises and pray big prayers and have the profound privilege of sharing this Good News…
Scripture has answers.
God is real.
And no matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done… he loves you more than you could ever imagine.
I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love. ~ John 15:9 (GNT)
Those are Jesus’ words. And this is what his love does…
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him. ~ Luke 4:18-19 (TLB)
I don’t know about you, but I think this hurting planet and all 8.2 billion people on it could use an outpouring of love and healing, freedom and restoration, justice and blessings right about now.
Enough to go around.
And around again.
I was blown away this week thinking about God’s Spirit. The Way he pours it out for us, on us, in us.
And that means sometimes we get to witness…
Miracles.
We get to savor God’s goodness and see his glory.
We get to be conduits for it.
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. ~ John 15:5 (MSG)
Anticipating a harvest of love, joy, peace… and all the other life-giving fruit that God’s Spirit grows and bestows.
Fresh lemons, anyone?
Wendy
