The shed was in mortal peril last week! All that windiness made a tree fall down. Well most of it anyway. Thankfully, the tree found an angle that made it miss the shed. And also next door's fence.
It can be quite difficult to discern intentionality. As was explained to me by a vicar who shall remain nameross, if you're caught in an avalanche then that's just nature taking it's course. But if you see a snowball rolling down a mountain toward you, which changes its course when you do - then someone is behind it.
Sometimes we just have to be thankful that things could have been a lot worse.
Wind is seemingly random, Spirit is purposeful. It's ever so confusing that in both Hebrew and Greek, one word is used for both. This makes it impossible to translate into English, as we have to decide which of two (or more) words better fits the bill. Hence in Jesus' conversation (OK, monologue) with Nicodemus, the same word is translated differently by reading intentionality back into the sentences. Shame.
John 3: (CEV)
4 Nicodemus asked, “How can a grown man ever be born a second time?”
5 Jesus answered:
I tell you for certain that before you can get into God’s kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. 6 Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God. 7 Don’t be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. 8 Only God’s Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.
