I was on a bit of a Bible road-trip today.  No plan, just opened my concordance (index) at the back of my Bible to the word "Spirit".  It's like jumping in a car and just beginning to drive wherever the roads take you.  Normally I would not approach a vacation this way; I would plan, book ahead, set goals for destinations and pack accordingly.  But every now and then it is freeing to just throw a bag in the car and head out on the open road!
The first stop on my journey was in Genesis, chapter 1 verse 2 - "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."  Oh, yeah, the Holy Spirit was there at creation, before creation.  He is eternal, everlasting, immortal, invisible!  I enjoyed that scenic pullout where I could think on God's presence hovering.  Like staring at the Grand Canyon at night, with no lights, no moon, and imagining the vast nothingness but knowing the Spirit of God was there.  Wow!
Next I turned the corner to Psalm 139, verse 7 - "Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Where can I flee from Your presence?"    No matter how far I go or how far I wander from the road map, God is there.  I can think I am unseen by anyone, like a little child learning to play hide and seek.  They cover their eyes, or hide but their toes are sticking out from behind the curtains, and they think they cannot be detected!  The Lord is everywhere, omnipresent.  This is both disturbing and comforting, depending on whether I want Him near or whether I want to be left alone.  Today, I found comfort and wonder in the Spirit's presence.
I took a freeway past many references in the concordance to the book of Joel, chapter 2.  Here in verses 28 & 29, it was like pulling in at another rest stop that had viewing binoculars.  The promises were for a future day."And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people,...Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." Yet, because I am alive in 2014, over 2,000 years after Jesus Christ's birth, death and resurrection, this promise is in the past.  These binoculars are mysterious and unfathomable!  They revealed a future event and now look back to Pentecost...and the Spirit of God is still being poured out on God's servants.
As I tore myself away from this passage of Scripture, I asked "why"?  Why is the Holy Spirit hovering, everywhere all at once and now being poured out very specifically on His people?
I took a detour from the main highway to a path  that didn't mention this key word.  It took me some searching, some digging, some cutting away of brush to find the spot I was looking for - II Timothy 2:20 & 21 "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purpose and some for ignoble.  If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument [or vessel] for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."  God pours out His very Self in us, the people He has chosen through faith in Jesus Christ, to be made holy.  He has specific work for us to do and we are able to be used by Him for noble purposes.  We need His Spirit, His HOLY Spirit, to make us holy.  To make us useful.  To prepare us for any good work.  It began to make sense.
I stayed on that side path, praying and letting God speak to me.  Praying for myself and confessing my uncleanness.  Praying for my family and my teammates.
I felt overwhelmed and didn't know if I could continue on the journey.  Then a verse in Zechariah 4:6 appeared on the map and steered me back to the way I needed to go.  My burdens were made light by God's promise - "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty.  And I knew it was His forgiveness and His ability to protect my loved ones that would keep us all in His loving care.
Renewed by this detour, I got back onto the main road that led me to Matthew 3:16 - "As soon as Jesus was baptized He went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him."  I felt this was like the pinnacle of my journey, the highpoint from where I could see behind me and in front of me.  The centre of the universe, the focus of history, culminates in Christ.  And when He came to earth, was baptized and about to embark on His public ministry, God the Father sent His Spirit in the form of a dove to come upon His Son, Jesus.  The three Persons of the Trinity are identified and yet interwoven in the harmonious beauty and mystery of this account in Scripture.
Clearly the time to come down from the mountain top was approaching and I reluctantly wound my way to John 4:23 & 24 - "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  To worship God is our highest calling.  He is a Spirit; we cannot expect our worship to be only physical, temporal, bound by place and time.  We must seek Him with spiritual hunger and in the way He requires.  Any other worship is false and insincere.
Then suddenly, this adventure was over.  I found myself back home.  Actually in the kitchen, needing to tend to the practical task of making supper.  But like all good trips, I had collected some precious keepsakes to treasure in my heart about the Spirit.
And my Bible is ready for the next unexpected road-trip...