November 05, 2014
I Was a Stranger
The pastor gave instructions
for people to leave their seats and greet one another. A few empty chairs separated
me from a middle-aged man who hesitantly, and almost apologetically, approached
me saying, “Are you a visitor?” We introduced ourselves and when Dan volunteered
that he is usually very introverted, I complemented him on greeting a stranger.
It was clear that Dan was completely out of his comfort zone, and he humbly
credited the Spirit with motivating him to reach out. We returned to our seats
and I had to smile when the pastor then revealed his sermon title, “Do Not
Neglect the Gift You Have.” In determining who will be allowed into heaven the
Lord will say to those on His right, “For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in …” (Matt 25:35 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Part of the process leading to the manic-depression I suffered in my mid-twenties was an odd cycling back and forth between introversion and extroversion. When life became so miserable that I had to take what control I could of my inner processes, I came to realize everyone is made of this odd mix. Most people, being basically one or the other, seem not to recognize the mix, because in the healthy mind, the cycling is very subtle. Within me, though, it was oppressively overwhelming. When I was introverted, little could draw me out. When I was extroverted, little could shut me up. And never the two seemed to meet.
-----I thank God for everything. Hardly a day goes by that something does not make my heart thump big gratitude for even some triviality having delivered a major meaning into some line of thinking I’ve been doing, or unto becoming a line of thinking I will be doing. As torturous as manic-depression was, escaping it meant analyzing it, comparing one side of the pendulum swing to the other, interrelating what I observed, hypothesizing, testing, discovering, learning. Since my cycles between introversion and extroversion were deep and distinct, I thank God for what I learned in somewhat escaping their control.
-----Indeed there is a way spirits touch the inside of your mind. Oops! Did I say spirits? Yah. I suppose I did; because they can. Let Legion be telltale, for there is a guarding of the treasure here, too. But the Spirit we want touching us there, in our treasures. And Dan is correct in that introversion lends the mind somewhat to such touching. The likely processes of spiritual touching within are subtle, extremely interesting (at least to me) and voluminously detailed. Far too detailed for this present discussion. But amongst those details is another interplay. And if it is not the creating cause of such cycles as introversion/extroversion, insight/observation, even depression/elation, then it is certainly a furthering cause of such: particularity/generality. Dan related the Spirit’s unction to introversion, because in that particular incident, it was so.
-----But other particular incidents reveal the Spirit’s unction amidst the generalities of extroversion as well. Caiaphus cried out in a council regarding what to do with this Jesus guy, “…you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people…He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied.” (John 11:50-51)
-----In the summer of 2000, something like it happened to me. I was certainly in a fit of extroversion, for I caught Scott McInnis’ attention, of all people, and sought to convince him that a Republican controlled House and Senate needed to focus an investigative battle against a very deceitful “leftiness” in the media. I assured him that if they did not immediately take up this fight, “George W. Bush as elected President could go to war and free 15 million people, and still the lying media would drum him out of office within four years.” I’m nobody special in the generality of mankind, nor is Dan. But sometimes the Lord either tweaks a heart of quiet introversion or stomps on an extroverted toe, thus extracting the particularly special squeak He desires for a general situation.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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