Wind Chill or Trade Winds

Journal 2005 02 10
Wind Chill or Trade Winds?

The court-martial mentioned yesterday is held. And the sentence is suspended.

Charbonneau returns from the hunters with three horses loaded with meat for the camp. The horses are not shod and cannot negotiate the ice on the Missouri River with the heavy loads on their backs. Sleds are requested and a party is sent to help bring the meat into camp.

No mention is made of any emotion attached to the arrival of the meat. That is consistent with the temperate recording of the men and their mindset throughout the length of the journey.

The temperature is 18 degrees above zero, eight degrees warmer than the day before. Lewis notes that because of the fierce wind that has come up that the previous days ten degrees was noticeably warmer than this day’s eighteen. Today we’ve named that phenomenon the “wind chill factor”.

Several items strike me as history applies to today. First, justice was swift. Soldier Howard breeched security yesterday, the matter was closed within twenty-four hours. Slightly different than justice carried out anywhere else except our homes. Even home justice can lack mercy and extend punishment beyond what is needed. Swift justice needs to rule the day.

Second, Clark sent help in the form of food back to camp knowing they were in need. Charbonneau arrived without horses, meat or another soldier. What do you think went through the minds of those who first saw him arrive? Fear that he was a sole survivor? Hope that he was hauling a load too big for one man? A call to arms to aid the hunting party? Do you think attitudes and initial conclusions changed after hearing Charbonneau’s call to help bring in the harvest? How do we receive a report? Do we jump to conclusions or wait to hear the messengers report?

Third, the “wind chill factor” can increase the negative impact of our circumstances. A sermon could be preached on “The Wind of Spirit or the Storm of the devil, Which do You Choose?” The Holy Spirit is likened to the wind many times because of His invisibility. However invisible, His power is undeniable. Hurricanes and tornadoes illustrate the power of the wind to destroy. Sailing ships and wind turbines illustrate the slight harnessing of the power of the wind. We forget that the power contained in explosions is the concussive power of the air moved by the explosion. So, the power of the wind can chill us and negatively impact us by causing us to seek shelter from its power. It can overpower us even to death. This would illustrate evil using the wind to its benefit to hinder and stop us.

Now it gets exciting, that power of the wind is indicative of the Holy Spirit speaking to us. He is illustrated as coming to us not in the power of the storm but in the quiet whisper of a gentle breeze. He’s capable of harnessing power and blowing out all opposition. He can send a cleansing breeze to refresh His ministering to us. Ever open the windows in winter to let the stale air be exchanged for fresh? Refreshing. Renewing.

Let the “wind chill factor” work in your favor. Hunker down in the storm if you need to. But as easy as it is to see the physical impact of the natural wind, train yourself to see the spiritual impact of the “Trade Winds of the Holy Spirit”.  Do not hunker down in this wind. Stand tall and lift your sails so you are carried along by an overwhelming force to the destination He has determined for you. In the natural, the “trade winds” carried sailing ships across the ocean fueling great commerce. God’s economy is people and eternal souls. If we let the Holy Spirit carry us in God’s trade winds we will work at trimming our sails and carrying a great bounty. If we let the Holy Spirit determine our direction we are not subject to the constant second-guessing of His will that dogs our modern Christian existence.

So when you feel the chill of the wind from a storm remember to look instead for the warm trade winds that will send you to the destination to carry the bounty that God would desire for us to bring to Him.