Untwisted

 Thank a vet today.  Thank him or her for serving our country.  I can't imagine what our world would look like if these brave men and women hadn't answered the call.  Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!  Happy Veterans Day!

The biblical moment I've been waiting for ever since signing up for daily Bible in a Year podcasts happened this morning.  The best way I can describe the event is in one word – untwisted.  Don't try this at home unless you're fully prepared for what happens.  Your life may never be the same.

Outsiders may say what I did was silly, stupid, or just plain egotistical.  Perhaps one can check all three boxes and be entirely correct.  What I asked for and what I got were two different things.  What I received changed me forever.  I listened to a stranger who appeared at our house of worship back in the day before my hair turned white.  I was just a regular guy married to an amazing wife raising a family of three children.  This visitor demonstrated how we could see ourselves in the Bible if we asked God to show us who we are.  I did this.  I went home, opened my Bible and asked God to show me who I am in his eyes.  I was hoping for some cool guy like Noah.  This didn't happen.  Instead I saw a reflection of myself in Luke 8:26-40, a crazy naked dude living in a cave who was possessed my multiple demons.  Jesus goes to extraordinary lengths to reach out to this man.  The boat practically gets swallowed up in the storm the night before the meeting.  Jesus gets out of the boat, approaches the demoniac and heals him.  

The story doesn't end with the healing.  The villagers witness all the pigs drowning after the demons are cast out of the crazy man and they get scared.  They head home to tell everyone about what happened and the townspeople get frightened.  They send Jesus away.  The man pleads to follow Jesus but Jesus says no, ordering the man to return home and share what happened with others.  This man didn't have a blog but he was pretty good about sharing from his heart.  The good news is that when Jesus returned, everyone was waiting based on the testimony of the crazy man who got a mulligan and used his second chance at life to share all about Jesus.

All I can say is I'm now untwisted.  I still do silly things sometimes but I'm very different ever since I discovered my past, present, and future all in one Bible story.  Jesus heals.  Ask him to be your guide.  Have a great day and don't forget to thank a vet.