GARY MILLER: Wind, Spirit and God During Deer Hunting Season
The wind is one of the most important considerations during deer season. It affects everything from stand placement to the clothes one wears. If it blows from the east, you might as well stay home. If it’s swirling, you might as well stay home then, too. And then there are the thermals that you have to figure in. They move up the hill in the morning and down in the evening. I had rather hunt when it’s 20 degrees and no wind than when it’s 32 degrees with a strong wind. But if I could choose the conditions for a perfect hunt, they would include a light, steady, and consistent breeze out of the northwest. This type of wind is not only comes from the preferable direction but its characteristics are predictable and allow the hunter to get away with the most movement. I’ve had a lot of success under these conditions.
In the Bible, the Spirit is compared to the wind. Like the wind, many times the Spirit is unpredictable. His job concerns things like conviction, correction, developing, teaching, and empowering. His methods are many and He likes to do His greatest work at the most inopportune times. His purpose is to make each follower of Christ more like our Leader and to make every unbeliever contemplate their own mortality. Usually, the approach that each of us has to take is the one that calls for us to make day by day adjustments to His effect. But that’s not always the case.
Just like the wind, there are times when the movement of the Spirit is steady, consistent, and predictable. One can take a not-so-far-look back into history and see there were times when the Spirit directed God’s people in a new direction or towards a new emphasis. If He did it then, He can do it now. We can also look at how God is moving in the lives of other people and groups throughout a geographical, national, or even global area and determine if the winds of a new direction from God are blowing. When that happens, we can do one of two things: we can hold on to the safety of certainty and the comfort of acceptance or we adjust our sails. Jimmy Dean once said, “I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” I say, “Me too.”
I’d love to come speak at your wild game dinner or men’s conference.
Gary Miller can be reached via e-mail at gary@outdoortruths.org
