Unclean!

 Warning!  Today's story came to me in the middle of the night and it disturbed me enough to knock my sleep quality down to the fair range (55) barely above the "needs attention" score.  I already knew my sleep quality was going to drop as I broke my own bedtime rule and stayed up late with my family for the Super Bowl.  Here goes...

Imagine you have access to some kind of portal that could take you any place at any time.  There is only one condition.  In order to time travel into the past, you need to occupy someone else's body while you're visiting.  I did this last night while sleeping.  At approximately 3:30 am I entered the portal and ended up inside the body of a leper.  I was shouting along the unpaved roads, "Unclean!  Unclean!"  I was an outcast forbidden to live in the community.  A small gathering of men approached me and I tried to stop them from approaching me but they persisted.  The leader, a man in a white robe got so close to me that I trembled.

Recalling the words I heard from the same Bible story the day before about the leper who Jesus healed, I said, "Jesus, if it is your will, please heal me."  He did.  Electricity flowed through my body.  Every single wound from head to toe evaporated.  This is the point where I woke up.  

You may be saying to yourself, "Geez, that Michael sure does have a vivid imagination."  I would add that perhaps my imagination is warped.  After all, if you could go anywhere you wanted to go, why would you choose an outcast who is plagued with leprosy?  Perhaps my subconscious mind is drawn to the outcast.  Maybe I'm doing my best to seek Jesus.

The last time I asked Jesus to show me who I am in his eyes, he transported me back in time to witness another outcast, a demoniac possessed by thousands of demons.  It's probably a good thing I didn't own a smart watch at the time because my sleep cycle was at an all-time low for months.  I couldn't get the demoniac out of my head.  In a way, I saw an uncanny connection to this outcast.  I asked Jesus to show me who I am in his eyes and he did it, just as he healed the leper I saw in my dream at 3:30 am.   The word publish came up in both stories.  In the story of the leper, Jesus asked the man NOT to publish what he had done but the man couldn't help himself.  In the story of the demoniac, Jesus asked the man to publish all the good he had done for him and he did.  When Jesus returned to the land of the Gentiles where the demoniac was healed, there were all the villagers.  They heard the testimony and they desired to have what the publisher had...an opportunity to be with Jesus for eternity.

I will head to my day job a bit sleep deprived.  That's okay.  My healing seems to come from confronting my past.  Wether it be in a dream or simply dwelling on past dark days, there is a common thread.  Jesus is the one who transcends time.  He can come to you in your past, present, or future.  I can't explain how.  All I know is when you ask, you receive.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share the challenging part of my journey with you today.  May you live long and prosper!  Have a great day.