The Holy Wind (A Short Story)

On December 21st, the first day of winter, my wife and I prayed in our cabin. We warmed each other in our embrace and under wool blankets.  We needed nothing and wanted nothing.  In love with God and each other, we worshipped.  As my wife prayed, praising God, I felt a strong breeze caress my hair.  "But the windows are closed," I thought.  And even if they had been opened, the air was frigid, but not windy.  Jill raised her bowed head and opened her eyes wide.  "Marcus, did you feel that?"  Her honey deep voice sounded thrilled, excited and afraid.  "Feel what?"  "I felt air blow through my hair."  "Yes, I did feel it.  I thought I imagined it."  The breeze filled the room, yet the fire blazed unmoved in the fire place.  From behind us, then in front of us, air flowed; inhale, exhale.  We heard each other breathing, and we heard The Breath of Someone Else in our room.  We both bowed and remained silent, prostrating ourselves before The Lifegiver.  Our breathing joined His, and we honored His breath as the source of our own. 

The Spirit's Answer (A short story)

As I walked on the trail the Spirit of God said to me, "Go to the young man sitting on the bench at the next dock and ask him how he's doing."  I continued to walk until I got to the dock, and sure enough, a young man sat on the bench, looking down at the water.  "How are you doing?" I asked him.  He looked up at me with tear filled brown eyes and said, "I hate myself." He sobbed.  "What do I say to him?" I prayed.  "Tell him that I know the answer to his question and will give it if he wants to hear it."  I said what the Spirit told me to say.  The young man looked intently at me, pushing back his long hair.  "If you have the answer, I want it.  But you can't possibly have it."  I didn't.  So I asked, "Holy Spirit, what is he talking about?"  "Tell him that when he was 7 years old, he wanted to know why his life was so messed up.  This is the answer.  A father and mother are entrusted with children by God Himself.  His parents did the best they knew at the time, but they were learning how to parent him with no training at all."  I said it, not confident that it would mean anything to the young man with brown eyes and long hair.  He stood suddenly.  "How did you know that?  That's exactly what I was thinking about when you walked up!"