Standing in an open door, I felt the wind push against me, heard its song as it strummed the bare deciduous branches and played the evergreen needles as tiny harps. It's an uncommon-weather day in the Northwest. We don't often have wind this far inland, at least not of this magnitude. I felt enveloped, immersed in the wind and weather. It surrounded me; I live in its grandeur and challenge. I cannot truly escape it; I can only shelter myself from it. Weather encloses the world and all of which it consists. I can only shield myself from it or luxuriate in its manifestation. Which I do will depend on my circumstance and disposition. I might hide inside of air conditioning on a hot day or put on sunscreen and sit on my patio. I might bundle up in layers of clothing, boots and hat or close the windows and turn up the heat on a snowy day. Just so we are enclosed and live within Him. We cannot truly escape Him; He is all-encompassing and all-invading. But I can resist or welcome; hide from or rejoice in His presence. All mankind faces weather and God from one of these two perspectives. May it soon be that all will rejoice in His presence; will bask in His undiminished, unfiltered, unprotected presence; that none will want to hide from His face. Weather 04.07.10