Enter the period affectionately nicknamed the “Jesus Freak Out”; if you’ve ever met anyone in this season, you know what it means. Here’s how it happened. Turned out Billy Graham was off holding meetings, but Jesus turned up at the local coffee shop, down in the park, when we stumbled in one night after a time at the bar around the corner. People with bibles and guitars showing seekers the path of Life and … well, sign me up! Joy in joining a community to share all things in common, "in the Name of Jesus."
Church and church and more church, "in the Name of Jesus." Music in the park, knocking on the doors of strangers to ask very personal questions, dwelling a lot on heaven and hell, convincing her family, and more, all "in the Name of Jesus."
In addition to all the activity, there was a real move to tidy up her life and cast off the depression and sadness ever-lurking in the shadows. During the day, she inhabited a cubicle and took phone calls, but you failed to notice the cubicle and saw, instead, a woman sitting in a cool, green garden full of hanging, draping plants.
That is my first true memory of her – an organic oasis in a harsh world. Which pretty much sums her up all around, come to think of it....
There’s a fork in the road just ahead. Our paths came from worlds apart to converge and now, they diverge again. Which road shall I follow – hers, as I interpret it? Or mine, now touched and influenced by her? I choose my own, in order to ponder the questions, "What (has happened)?" and "How (did it happen)?" My friend continued to enter the conversation here and there, but once she moved away, her impact was less direct, more diffused ....
Moment of clarity: Walking in the woods, I understand many things, even if only for moments at a time. The understanding remains, somewhere deep within, and this affects some inner rootedness, particularly when surroundings make little sense .... There is a world that lies beneath language, beyond language. I once knew that world, was well-acquainted with it, must've been, before I was born and even well into my infancy, but I fought against it, my language-less-ness - we nearly all do - and was pleased at the responsiveness of others as I learned first to squawk and coo, and then to mimic their sounds, eventually forming some semblance of understandable language, and then, some level of eloquence as I articulated with language anything I wished to convey. For many, many years, this system served me well - even to a level of proficiency in writing and public speaking, which earned me kudos and commendations. The Rhetoric stage of education, is, after all, the highest, is it not? To articulate well, to argue concisely, to convince - highly prized skills indeed. Language, words, logos - pause and consider for moments the importance of these in your life, our lives. What is there, just there, beyond language?? ...
