What's in a name?

As you might have noticed, I just changed the name of my blog.  Move, tell, serve, and love are the four key principles that guide my Christian walk, but they also tell the story of a spiritual relationship with God that looked and felt different a year ago when I started blogging.  Whenever I think of God's Spirit, the future of the Church, and the future of God's people I am reminded of John 3:8. "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

I was reading a friend's blog recently and got to really thinking about metaphor.  Metaphor can be visually important, substantively useful, and theoretically viable.  Metaphor can also be dangerous.  Last night I was talking with a friend from my church family and we got to talking about an open mind as a "blank slate".  On the topic of "noise" (we had just watched a video by Rob Bell) we were talking about having a meditative or contemplative spirit when preparing to hear the voice of God.  Unfortunately, confusing metaphor got us hung up on what it means to be a blank slate and so instead of having productive conversation we ended up having a brief argument (lovingly) over a point we actually both agreed on but were framing differently because of the way we interpreted the metaphor.  This is somewhat troubling to me.

At the same time, I think metaphor can speak into our lives in a beautiful and transforming way.  This is why I decided on the name change.  I think the wind carrying the essence of the Spirit is something we can all agree on and understand.  The Wind is always moving, always refreshing.  It changes the tides and dictates the weather.  Sometimes it toys with us delicately, like the collar of a shirt playing at the back of our neck.  Other times it tears the roof from a house and displaces the furniture.  I've experienced both and all of these things in relation to God- I think we all have.

So happy Spring everyone, and make sure to enjoy the wind. :)