Turned Inside Out! Part 1

I do laundry at home. Not every week, but probably half the time (my wife, Karen, can post her own blog if she wants to challenge my estimate or contradict me!). My mom trained me (yep – we had lessons!) before I went off to college.

Years ago I remember scolding our kids – and Karen – about peeling their tee shirts off and throwing them into the hamper inside out. When I got to the point of folding the laundry, I had to turn every shirt right side out – slowing the entire laundry process. But then one day I noticed that frequently my tee shirts came out of the dryer inside out too. I knew mine went into the hamper right side out. It seems the washing machine thrashed them around and managed to turn most of them inside out in the cleaning process. Sometimes when we least expect it we too get turned inside out.

Karen and I had the opportunity to join World Race U, V, W, and X Squads, and an upcoming Passport Team at Toccoa Falls College for Training Camp in June 2013. The speaker for most of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday was Dr. Ron Walborn, Dean of Alliance Theological Seminary. As I told Ron late Monday night at our hotel, I think I learned more from him in two days than the sum total of my earlier 60 years of Christian Education. In fact I was greatly moved by the worship, teachings, and the entire experience of Training Camp. They tell the racers not to have any expectations and I certainly didn't have any. But WOW.

But I'm already getting ahead of myself. Again.

In previous blogs I've mentioned that I grew up in conservative churches and have experienced a pretty tame relationship with God. Don't get me wrong – when times are bad I go to God; when times are good I go to God. It's just that I've rarely had much “direct” contact with the Holy Spiri

Ron's teachings built up to a Monday evening session on the Role of the Holy Spirit. Just a couple of key takeaways from the evening lesson for me:  

• We're not natural beings having a temporary spiritual experience. We're spiritual beings having a temporary natural experience

• The more you say yes, the more you will hear from Him

• You don't have to be holy because God works inside us all. But if you want to survive the experience you'd better get holy!

After teaching a great lesson Ron invited all the participants to invite the Holy Spirit into their lives in a deeper way. He told us we could expect some manifestations of the Holy Spirit – and perhaps some unholy ones – among the gathered crowd. Did I mention I was skeptical?

Ron said our job was simple – just surrender and trust the work of the Holy Spirit within me. As we scattered throughout the auditorium, Ron offered quiet words of encouragement to the group, acknowledging that some people would likely cry – or cry out, while others might start laughing. And they did! Some people knelt while others lay prostrate on the floor. Well, I stood there along with everyone else and prayed. I didn't quite get carried away, but I'll confess I felt a presence – a gentle wave passed over me.

And THEN there was shouting. No, not shouting – shrieks. Yells. Wailing. Ron immediately shouted something to the effect, “Holy Spirit protect that woman. Don't let evil spirits attack her” and the shrieks stopped. Immediately. A crowd of leaders rushed to gather around one of the U Squad racers just off to my left who had fallen to the floor and was still thrashing around a bit.

After a few minutes a couple of the leaders lifted up the racer and together three of the men ushered the racer out a side door. I glanced over and noticed Karen and another woman coach standing nearby and I walked over and said, “I just saw three guys lead that woman out of the auditorium. Perhaps you should go join them so there's a woman with her.”

Karen quietly said, “It wasn't a woman; Ron had it wrong. It's one of the guys.”

And then things REALLY began to happen – stay tuned for more in Part 2