Wind Power
by Oliver Carlos
I just realized recently that I don’t need to go to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte just to see platoons of majestic windmills. There are dozens of them just across the lake where I live. From Cabuyao, Laguna, I drove 3 hours to reach the hills of Pililia, Rizal. Cabuyao is on the southwest corner of Laguna de Bay, while Pililia is on the northeast of the largest lake in the Philippines.
While still on the plains of Eastern Laguna, I can already see the windmills atop the hill ahead. The boundary of Laguna and Rizal province is on the mountain road leading to the windmills. The windmills of Pililia are privately-owned, but the electricity they generate benefits everyone.
The place is called 54MW Pililia Wind Farm. I heard that there are 27 windmills generating 54 megawatts (MW) of wind power annually. It’s called a farm because the windmills technically “harvest” wind on site. The turbines were imported from Spain.
A windmill generates electricity when the giant propellers turn continuously. Other powerplants also have propellers or turbines, but they just have different ways of making them turn. Hydroelectric powerplants use gushing water, and geothermal powerplants use gushing steam from under the earth. Meanwhile, windmills use gushing air to turn the turbines.
I’m glad wind power is getting popular now. It’s an environment-friendly source of electricity. It doesn’t pollute the air unlike the burning of fossil fuels. It’s a great alternative compared to petroleum and coal. It’s also safe compared to nuclear energy which poses great danger when leaks happen. Wind power is also renewable, meaning, it’s always plenty in nature, unlike the other sources mentioned earlier that once consumed, they don’t get replenished anymore. Wind energy is one big blessing from above.
The Bible mentions a different kind of wind energy. One of the things the Holy Spirit is compared to is wind. Jesus said that those who are changed by God are called “born of the Spirit,” and an allegory about the Holy Spirit and the wind is mentioned.
The wind blows where it wants to go. You hear the wind blow. But you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit.” (John 3:8, ICB).
There are 2 major points here. First, the wind blows freely, it goes wherever it wants. Humans can’t dictate its direction. Similarly, a Christian submits oneself to the Holy Spirit. Wherever God the Holy Spirit leads, the Christian goes. The person doesn’t impose his own personal will, which is most of the time self-centered. Instead, the Christian would always say, “not my will, but yours be done.”
Secondly, those who are born of the Spirit have fruits. Fruits are signs of one’s identity. The wind cannot be seen, but we know there is wind because there are signs that there is wind. We can feel it against our faces, we can see the branches of trees sway, and sometimes we can hear it whistle or howl. Wind is invisible, but we know it exists because of the evidences it manifests. Same with the Holy Spirit living inside the Christian. We don’t see the Holy Spirit, but we see his fruits sprout in the life of the person he indwells.
Beginning today, let us allow more of the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. Let him blow us to where he wants us to be, and let’s give him the freedom on what he wants to do in our lives. Then very soon, we will see tangible signs of his work in us.
