Crazy-Making Annointing

Regularly, people tell me, "Thank you for telling me so-and-so," and I'm thinking, "Did I say that? - I didn't say that! - I didn't even think that!" So I go away from these conversations feeling a little crazy and thinking, "Should I tell them they are mistaken . . . that I don't deserve their appreciation?"

Or should I just recognize that this could be one of the fruits of processing pain well, one of the fruits of positioning myself to find life . . . in death, one of the fruits of passing through the "cross"? In other words, the life I choose to find in death, in the on-going presence of my enemies, perhaps results in an "annointing" of sorts that manifests itself in the vessel (me) being of no consequence; results, perhaps, in the message existing outside of me to the benefit of the recipient.

Present Yet Impervious

For me, the Christian Cross consists of 7 elements: Number 1, it is always painful; Number 2, it is tailor-made, by God and/or as a result of my own choices; Number 3, there is an "anointing" on the other side; Number 4, it usually has something to do with your identity; Number 5, you can choose to not "go to the cross"; Number 6, life on the other side of the cross is never the same; Number 7, the cross that kills you might not cause another to even flinch.

Sometimes this cross can last for decades - a series of thousands of choices - till the work is done and one is delivered from the fire that yet burns - in the fire but not harmed by the fire - present yet impervious - truly changed.