Taxiing complete, the pilot announces we’re number one for departure. Full stop. Engines rev up with that familiar rumble/whine, begging for release. Then we slip into gear, moving slowly at first, then faster and faster, whipping past airport outbuildings, all of us onboard pressed deeper into our seats, then the liftoff. In minutes, we are gently cruising at 35,000 feet at a speed of 550 mph. Exhilarating! We do love us some speed! And this is replicated with every moving vehicle or apparatus, motor or not. We start as children, discovering running. Our limits for this new activity need to be tested. That’s why there are mothers with bandages and ointment. But there are also bikes, scooters, sleds, skis, snowboards, skateboards, cars, boats, and on and on, all calling to be tested. As I said, we do love us some speed.
When life speeds up with activities and appointments and responsibilities, we discover limits, too. Our bodies and our minds begin signaling for a time out, for some processing time. We ignore these calls at our peril.
Maybe the disciples, at Pentecost, felt as though they were on a passenger plane tearing down a runway toward liftoff. Since there were no planes, no runways, no engines, in their day, this sensation must have been intense, indescribable. They were catapulted from sorrowful, fearful, bogged down inertia to dizzying speeds (and heights) previously unknown to man (today, some would cheer for them, shouting: ‘They got air!’) Processing? No time for that. Breathing and staying upright were challenge a-plenty.
Do we feel a certain compelling energy in us today? Could the Holy Spirit be up to something again, recruiting us for another adventure? Sounds exciting! I think the Holy Spirit loves him some speed, too! (just sayin’) So looking forward to seeing y’all tomorrow, 10 AM, 3 PM UK, 4 PM FR. PD
Don graduated from Regent University in 1988 and moved to France for seven years, coming back to the US briefly to marry Sue in 1990. The work in France included working in a Christian School and helping plant a church before returning in 1995. He’s been pastor of Peninsula Vineyard since 1999. He enjoys counseling, especially married couples, traveling back to France (with Sue), reading, doing Sudoku puzzles and sleuthing out good, dark chocolate. Don serves as the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church Peninsula, in Newport News, Virginia.