06/08/2026
THE DUST STORM
On a warm and humid summer’s day, clouds billow upward into the atmosphere. As moisture rises, instability builds. The storms would be welcomed on this day, as it has been a brutal summer of heat which has miserably lacked rainfall. The fields surrounding the university are dry, and the crops are mostly a loss. Where corn, grain and wheat should be standing, only dirt is visible as far as the eye can see. As the afternoon inches toward dinner hours, the water and ice in the fast-moving clouds have become too dense and heavy for the updraft which until now has supported the evaporation. In a quick reversal, the air comes crashing back to earth as a downdraft, carrying a wind strong enough to push aside all in its path. In a flash, thousands of cubic feet of dirt is lifted from the ground, and the dust storm comes rolling toward campus like a tidal wave. In mere moments, all light will be blocked out, and chaos will reign in God’s creation.
The sight of a dust storm is amazing from the ground. Black clouds, stretching from the ground into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, roll and expand as they approach, enveloping everything in their path. One feels as if they are about to be swallowed in a wild living mass of some sort. The event is almost always disastrous, but it can also move useless dirt for miles while uncovering more fertile ground. The raw power and force of nature as God’s storehouses unleash is beyond description. They are somehow both destructive and renewing simultaneously. The winds rearrange fields and spread seeds. It is no wonder that the Spirit of God is described as a loud rushing wind. For the Spirit also rearranges, plants, and renews…even if it occasionally has to clear what once was in our lives to bring about that which is to come as calendars turn their pages. The Spirit can be a gentle dove calming the soul, or a violent storm stirring all in its path. Perhaps we would often prefer to avoid the chaos, but we would never want to miss the steering forces of God’s imagination as we are pushed and pulled in new directions for every season of life. The idea of being lifted and churned is unsettling, but on occasion it is the only way for God to move us. Thus, may the heavenly storehouses be emptied often, and the winds of the Spirit flow through the earth. Thanks be to God. Amen.
-Rev Jeffrey G Mikyska
