12.16.07
You do believe me … right?
A friend of ours recently called and asked if she could talk with Jason and I about some things that had been going on in her life. We arranged for a casual dinner the following night. As soon as she arrived and began explaining her situation, I quickly realized that I was in unfamiliar territory. I took very few counseling classes during my time at Bible college, but I doubt that they would have offered the class that I needed. The subject was the occult.
We’re dealing with this issue more and more. Seemingly harmless things like horoscopes and palm readings have woven their way into the culture here, and we’re left with a nasty mix of post-Catholic, superstitious, and mystical spirituality.
Our friend wasn’t involved with any of these things. But she was placed in a situation where she had to deal with some very real and very scary things: evil presences, fear, even some other strange physical signs that not all was right. I was struck at a certain point during our time together when she looked right at us and said, “You do believe me … right?” I think she really was afraid we would think she was a nut case. And the look of relief that I saw in her face when I told her that I absolutely believed her really taught me something.
I didn’t have a lot of wise counsel for her. I was very thankful for Jason and the different perspective that he brought to the table. But it was interesting to me because I think about 50% of what she needed was practical things she could do to get out of this situation. And the other 50% of what she needed was just to be heard and know that she wasn’t alone.
As I get deeper into this culture, and find more and more how deeply these occultish things have woven their way into even a strong Christian’s life, I think I’m going to have a lot more conversations like this one.