“Make no mistake about it, I believe in the supernatural– miracles, dreams and visions.  Yes, to believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in His ability to do “anything.”  But not everything that God does looks like a miraculous healing, a dream or a vision. His agenda is much deeper than that.  He is most interested in transforming lives– resurrecting the spiritually dead to new life in Christ.

Here is the question:  If God can do anything, then can He also use anyone in getting His message across?  You’d better believe it!  Have you ever read the biblical story of Balaam and his donkey?  In the Autumn of 1978  I clearly saw it first hand.  I’ll never forget the night I had a brief encounter with a bona fide “hippy” named Sid.  Here’s the story.

My wife and I, newlyweds, were serving as youth pastors for a wonderful group of young people.  They were energetic, creative, and zealous for Jesus.  I decided to harness their energy by challenging them to renovate an old storefront on main street and open a Saturday evening “coffee house” as an outreach.  In reality, we never served one cup of coffee at the Genesis Coffee House.  In 1978 Starbucks was a struggling business in Seattle. Coffee was only a big deal at Waffle House– not exactly a gourmet coffee establishment.  But the name “coffee house” was a trendy designation for a place for young people to hang-out, talk and listen to music, so we went with it.

One Saturday evening after the guitar singing and short Bible study, just as everyone was headed for the soft drinks, chips, and cookies– a young fully bearded guy with scraggly long hair and an dirty white ankle length robe entered the Genesis Coffee House. He carried a tall walking stick in his right hand and a ragged knapsack was stretched across his shoulder.  Moses immediately came to mind.  Except for the music playing in the background everyone was silent and focused on the unusual visitor. Jimmy, one of our extrovert young guys wasted no time in making contact with him just inside the door.

“Welcome to Genesis, brother!”  Jimmy extended his hand for a handshake.  The young Moses look-alike smiled and nodded his appreciation, but never responded to Jimmy’s handshake– probably because he was tightly holding on to a plastic bread bag in his left hand.  I noticed the bread bag, but had no idea what legal or illegal items he had tucked inside it.  Joining Jimmy I introduced myself.

“Hello, I’m Mark Sims.  What’s your name?”

“Sid,” he responded, again nodding approval.  He stared wildly at me with his bright blue eyes.  It was eerie.

“OK, Sid, awesome!  And what was your last name?”  Sid shrugged his shoulders and glanced around the room before answering,

“In the spirit, man, in the spirit.”   By this time several more young people were closing in to check him out, so I was pressured to make an introduction.

“Hey everyone, I want you to meet our new friend.  This is– Sid In The Spirit.”  An avalanche of hellos and welcomes were acknowledged by Sid with a wild-eyed smile and repeated nods of approval.  I couldn’t help but pick up a certain, peculiar smell that seemed to surround him like an aura.  As much as I hoped he was a legit angel visitor, I quickly discerned that he was just a “wholly high” man– with special emphasis on the word “high.”

We shared Jesus with him the best we could, prayed with him, and then loaded him down with snacks before he took leave of our little coffee house.  The last we saw of Sid in the Spirit he was walking south on highway 31, headed toward Interstate 65.

The very next day at the close of our regular Sunday morning worship service, a young girl named Shelley raced to the altar in tears and threw herself down on her knees.  We had not seen her at church in a long time.  For a while Shelley had been a regular part of our youth group, but a new boyfriend had seized her attention, and her spiritual hunger had cooled-off entirely.  None of us had been able to reach her at all.

When I saw that it was Shelley, I quickly made my way to her.  A tragedy in the family must have occurred, I thought, or she wouldn’t be so emotionally wrecked.  Somewhere amidst the snot, tears, and gasping sobs, I finally got the reason she had come to the altar.  She explained it something like this:

“Pastor Mark, I’ve been feeling so guilty lately for how I’ve treated my relationship with Jesus.  I’ve been so selfish!  But late last night as I was driving up the interstate and about to get off the exit, I saw Jesus walking down the side of the road!  I know it was Him!  He was wearing a white robe and he looked at me straight in the eyes as I passed, and I knew immediately I had to get right with God.  I went home and cried and prayed, and that’s why I’m here.”

I never told Shelley about Sid In The Spirit– but I didn’t confirm that she had really seen Jesus either.  I just rejoiced with her that God was doing whatever it takes to show her how much He loves her.

And that will always be the truth.

“Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”   Jude 22-23