Holy Spirit Sneak Attack

The holy spirit has a way of sneaking up on people when they least expect it.

The Seeds are Planted

I have lived a lot of different places in my lifetime. I was born in Monterey, California, to a Methodist mom and an atheist dad, on the Fort Ord army base there. My dad was in the Army so we travelled around a bit in my first four years before settling in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. When I was 4 years old, my brother was born and a few years after that, my parents separated. Years later I would find out that they separated because my dad failed to acknowledge the existence of God.

Growing up, my mom would take my brother and I to Grace Episcopal church every Sunday, and we would suffer through a long sermon, and after, communion, where the entire congregation got in a circle around the church to pray and receive the body and blood. In fact, we frequently embarrassed our mom during communion by giggling uncontrollably. I still to this day do not know what caused us to laugh so hard during these moments; the pastor assured my mom that we were just filled with the Holy Spirit. Hmm.

My Bible

As I grew older, I learned about Jesus, that he was the Son of God. However, I never developed a relationship with Him and I certainly had not accepted Him as my savior. I moved to New York for College, back to DC upon graduation, to New England to sow my oats, to Virginia to begin a film production company, and then, to Los Angeles. With each move, there was one consistent item I took with me, my Bible.

Periodically I would try to read it. If I was feeling lonely, or sad, or curious, I would pick it up, and look for something interesting to read, with no particular rhyme or reason to the Book, Chapter, or Verse. It was like trying to read Chinese. I would get through a few paragraphs and realize that I hadn't actually been reading; rather, my mind would wander to other things—I was not able to focus on the words. Now, I wouldn't think this was a problem if I had a learning disability or an attention deficit problem, but the truth is, I was an avid reader and always able to concentrate, to comprehend. When it came to reading chapter and verse, I was lost.

I was Lost and then I was found

In 2009, I fell in love with the women whom I would eventually marry. While we were dating, she took me to meet her God parents who lived on Smith Mountain Lake, in Virginia. I knew before we arrived there, that her God parents were "born again" Christians, which carried a entire slew of meanings and judgments for me, most of them quite negative. We spent the evening talking and went to bed early, early for a Saturday night. The following morning was Sunday, and this couple hosted a church service on their lakeside backyard, where neighbors could come to hear and learn about God's word.