Editorial November 27, 1989 Issue

Rising to the altitude of Spirit

Ann Kenrick

Recently I had a gliding lesson on a very windy day. My instructor said the wind would lift us to find the thermals, the rising currents of air, and help us soar to good heights. After the tow plane had carried the glider to three thousand feet, I broke the cable free and the altimeter showed we were still climbing, so I banked to the left and began looking out for the lift clues in the air. We soared up and up. It was exhilarating!

Keeping the glider steady and making use of the thermals, we climbed to a height of six thousand feet, the highest I had ever flown in a glider. And all the time my horizon was expanding; I was getting a magnificent view of the ocean and the beaches of Cape Cod.

As a student glider pilot, I've thought quite a bit about wind. It interests me that wind is often used in the Bible to illustrate the operation of God's power, which revitalizes and energizes people's lives with the Holy Spirit. For instance, Christ Jesus used the image of the wind to explain to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, how it is possible and necessary to be born anew, born of the Spirit, if we are to enter God's kingdom.^{See John 3:1–8 .}

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