But I did have a talk with Lou about it this morning in OKC. And even though I only received a stomach ache from such an outpouring of knowledge in one sitting, the Lord spoke many valuable things into me.
I've been spending every saturday but a couple since October or November of 2007 at the City Rescue Mission and the Refuge in OKC. Today I found myself listening (which is, besides renovating the Refuge building, praying and worshiping, the thing I do most here) to a homeless man named Leo for a good 45 minutes or an hour. I sat down next to him in the dining room (more like a dining hall, but I don't like calling it that) and the first thing out of his mouth was, "You know anything about Einstein's law of Relativity?" or something like that. I have no clue about what I learned in High School science class, so I said 'no' and Toothless Jerod to my left started laughing at me. Jerod and I have had a few good convos, and he's one of my many 'body guards' up at the Mission (I'm a little guy, so I always ask the bigger guys I meet there to be my body guards in the rough part of town that it is).
Anyway, Leo starts talking about some crazy stuff- and I usually expect them to make up stories (one lady thought she was the original 'Annie' from back in the day, and so on), but this guy was legitimately present-minded and ridiculously smart. Now, I have a few friends that intrigue me with their philosophy and science ramblings, but this guy was quickly blowing my mind with his ideas and knowledge.
Two very significant things were said, though, that had nothing to do with his knowledge at all. It had to do with the Present Risenness, the Presence and Voice of God.
1. He stopped in the middle of a broad philosophical/scientific proposal of the Existence and Reality of God to ask me if I knew a certain verse: Malachi 3:10 which says, 'Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.' I quoted it perfectly (and I don't know many verses that way) because it had been prophesied over me almost three years ago, and within the past 6 months had showed up over and over. He acknowledged that it was a cool verse, and then jumped back into his spiel about black holes, a parallel universe, some dome thing made of triangles, etc. etc. (no joke). Malachi 3:10 is the verse I repeated over and over and over under my breath for about 45 minutes during worship last Sunday at Cluster.
2. He went another 10 minutes or so and then randomly started talking about a relative of his that just went through open heart surgery- look below... hmmm.. and talked about how the Lord did something in him at a young age that prepared him for where he has found himself today- the picture below is of a child's heart surgery, and when put into context about God shaping us and that being the surgery, it's hard to deny that the similarities are a bit impressive.
So, call it a 'parallel universe' or 'theory of relativity' or whatever- I know nothing about either of those- it doesn't matter what you want to call it. It's the Lord. These things don't just happen. Things like these, and * (see below) don't just happen because of a coincidence. They happen too often with too many odds against them to be a coincidence. And I'm not trying to convince you of God's Voice or His Existence; I'm just walking you through a tiny glimpse of the life I've found myself in- a life the Lord has chosen for me. It's what happens when I am broken and am living in Intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's pretty Jacked up, but I love it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
*Look at what I posted below (Friday, 4.18.08 at 4:51 pm) and then click on Madison Kerner's link on the right and read what she wrote, and then look at what time she posted. We had no clue we did that until that evening when she noticed it.
** I've filled two journals with this kind of stuff. If you want more stories of this kind of craziness, just let me know... I'd be happy to share it with you, because it's not mine for me to keep in.
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