I will let you in on a little secret: I love loud noises. Not the sudden ones as in a balloon popping or a firecracker exploding. Let’s put it this way; if you’re ever attending a firework show and you see a short woman with glasses and her fingers burrowed inside her ears, it’s probably me.
Roaring loud noises are what I like to hear. For instance, I love the sound of a passing train or the whirl of a large fan. One of my favorites is the sound the engines of a jet makes as it lifts into the sky. Just the other day we were driving by McGhee-Tyson Airport as a plane lifted up. I rolled my window down and stuck my head out so I could better hear it. So, where am I going with this line of thought? To a place you wouldn’t believe.
It started years ago when Sara came down with a respiratory virus when she was a teenager. For some reason, she had a very difficult time getting over it. The doctor changed her medication several times. He even had her lungs x-rayed to make sure she didn’t have pneumonia. Finally, she began to get better, which was a relief, but she still wasn’t quite her old rambunctious self.
Around this time, one of her friends wanted to see the Cheetah Girls in concert. In case you are unfamiliar with them, they were group of teenage girls who sang and starred in a TV movie. Anyway, Sara’s friend invited her to go with her and her mom to the Chettah Girls concert at the Boling-Thompson arena. Of course, Sara wanted to go. It was late February and I didn’t want her out in cold night air with her just beginning to heal. So, I bought a ticket too and that way Sara and I could leave early.
At the concert, the cover band played first. Minutes after they left the stage, the announcer notified everybody the Chettah Girls were heading the stage. That’s when I noticed a small roar from the crowd. As the announcer counted down, the roar grew. And grew. It became so loud, that I couldn’t hear the announcer finish his countdown. The roar was absolutely deafening. At that point, I had never heard such a sound. The crowd mainly consisted of girls between the ages of nine and fifteen and I think each and every one was screaming as loud as she could. People who were within a mile of the arena had to have heard it.
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:1-2 (KJV)
As I was writing, this verse popped into my head. It describes the arrival of The Holy Spirit. When I was a kid, I always wondered what the sound of the “rushing might wind” was like. Now that I am older and a Believer, I know there is no experience that can compare to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Do you know it? If not, you have no idea what you are missing. It will forever change your life and blow you away. Pun intended.

Believe it or not, I have experienced only one physical “roar” that was louder than what I heard at the concert. It was roar from the space shuttle launch we attended a few years later. I discussed it in my article: “Let’s Do Launch.” This old geek liked the space shuttle sound better. My insides jarred with that one. How cool was that!
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.