“Praise the young and they will blossom.”
IRISH PROVERB

“And they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”
LUKE 8:35 KJV

Every time I read this account of the man from Gadara, I can’t help but reflect on my own life, and the years that I spent not in my right mind. I wasn’t totally out of my mind all the time, or completely insane, but there were thoughts and moments when I would be a great distance from reality. Hind vision is 20/20 and as I look back I can see that the dimmest of these times, and the most painful of these times, were a result of emotional insecurity, influences of drugs and alcohol, and a lifestyle that was totally self-centered. When I came back from Vietnam in 1968 at the age of twenty-one years old, I separated myself from ever being told what to do again, or so I thought. I headed in my own direction with no plans, no goals, and no real ambition except to be comfortable and get high. I went to college in the fall of 1968 and completed one year being financed by the GI Bill. I lived on thirty dollars a week, and it didn’t take long to realize that being comfortable and getting high wasn’t going to happen. The next fall I went to work at a steel plant in Kansas City, I was able to get high then, but was not comfortable. I then decided that I didn’t care much for the dirty work at the steel plant and decided to go back to college. For two years I attended on the GI Bill living on forty-five dollars a week at that time. Life was a little more comfortable, but I was sure poor. All this time I had thoughts and dreams that were distant from reality. Fueled by drugs and alcohol these little bursts of insanity would sooth the emotional insecurity that I was experiencing. I was not in my right mind. My self-centered lifestyle soon led to incarceration and legal problems that would follow me for the rest of my life. In 1983 I got a glimpse of Jesus living in someone else’s eyes, it was a moment of clarity for me. It was like being handed a new pair of glasses with which to look at myself. As I looked inside myself I saw a big empty space, a space large enough to contain the God that had created the universe. And all I found there was a little sad boy pouting because things didn’t go his way. I allowed Jesus Christ to walk into that big empty space and help that little boy to grow up to be a man. Today I am still growing and find that man attending church and AA meetings, and “at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.” God has done for me what I could not do for myself………….JRE

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS page 60

“In waiting we begin to get in touch with the rhythms of life, stillness and action, listening and decisions. They are the rhythms of God. It is in the everyday and the commonplace that we learn patience, acceptance, and contentment.”
RICHARD J. FOSTER