Wind On Ice

Since work has slowed down I am enjoying a favorite winter pursuit- ice fishing for perch. The bays of Lake Pend Orielle have about ten inches of good ice so we should have fishing for a while. I like ice fishing because it is simple; a sharp auger, some short poles and jigs are all you need to catch huge perch. I haven’t found them biting crazy yet but I have brought home several meals this week. There can be times when fifty or more perch will be caught as fast as you can pull them in. This year I have pulled up many perch nearly fourteen inches long.

One of the reasons I like ice fishing is hearing the ice talk as the wind blows across the surface and causes the ice to expand. The ice will groan, ping, and crack as the wind works on it. The loud snap of ice expanding can make you jump when it zings past as cracks travel at lightning speed across the frozen expanse. Sadie was with me the other day when the ice was very active and I laughed as she would look down the drilled hole to see what was causing all the noise.

Wind on the ice is similar to the Holy Spirit working on us. The Holy Spirit is often referred to wind in the Bible. You can’t see the wind but we all feel its affects. We have no control over the wind. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has the ability to move over us and change our hearts completely. We are energized by the Spirit for God’s will. This is a hard truth for people to grasp as we want to be in control.

Our prayer should be for The Holy Spirit to mold us, move us, and energize our hearts to new service. We can change this world if the spirit is working in us. The disciples went from lowly Galilean fishermen in hiding to bold warriors of Good News for Christ when the Holy Spirit descended on them. Even death couldn’t stop their message. You can not stop the Wind.