Because when it came to finding a word that best described my vision for these writings, I realized that “Windblown,” while not the first title considered, was the best one that came to mind.

Because I didn’t want this to be a site with only my name plastered here and there and everywhere. The reason I keep a blog is similar to the reasons why other people keep a journal or a diary. It allows me to untangle, lay out, and examine the thoughts so often snarled up in the mind, like all those criss-crossing wires behind your television cabinet. But when I do extract them and arrange them in a somewhat coherent post, I’m struck every single time by the fact that my own writing ability had little to do with it. I truly believe it’s the work of the indwelling Spirit, who selects the strands of thought on which I ruminate, and uses my desire to write as one way of “guiding me into all the truth” (John 16:13).

Because “windblown” is the perfect word to describe the effects of that Spirit on someone’s life. The Hebrew word, ruach, means both “spirit” and “wind.” The Greek word, pneuma, carries the same multiple meaning. The writers of the Bible picked up on this wordplay and used it to instill greater depth to the Great Mystery they were describing. Even Jesus recognizes the interplay, telling Nicodemus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

Because being led by the Spirit – even in blogging – is the equivalent of being blown by a great wind. Like a leaf tumbled forward, pushed and prodded relentlessly by seemingly endless gusts, those who would submit to the Spirit are urged forward, into new things – new ideas and new convictions and new experiences.