Normal

My girlfriend, Kay, and I were coming to the end of our 10 week road trip. We were on our way to Bible school. Now we were visiting her army friends in Waco, Texas.

On this one day we went to the army base to bring lunch to Luke, a Drill Instructor. His office was on the second story of a barrack.

Kay and I were sitting next to the open office door that was across from Luke’s desk. As we were eating our hamburger, Luke’s countenance suddenly changed. The veins in his neck stuck out, his body got tense, and his eyes fastened on someone approaching the doorway.

In a second our jovial lunch conversation spun into what appeared to me as an irrational tirade, as spit and chewed hamburger sprayed out of Luke’s mouth. He had jumped up, causing his chair to fall over, was leaning over his desk and yelling at a young solider who looked like he was about to pee in his pants (or was that me?).

I presume the young man understood Luke, as he repeated numerous times, “Yes Sir!”

The solider finally hustled down the stairs to the dirt street below. In the hot Texas sun he dropped and gave him 20, while Luke, hanging out of the unscreened window above the solider, continued his tirade.

I was in shock.

Kay, who had been in the army, was doing that little low giggle she did when she was tickled. Luke turned around, picked up his chair, and resumed his lunch and the conversation as if nothing had happened.

Wow, culture shock! This was in the scope of normal for Kay and Luke. I had never seen anything like it.

But isn’t that true of life. Our “normal” is based on what is familiar to us. We look at our past to determine our normal. Interruptions catch our attention. Whether pleasant or unpleasant, those interruptions cause us to take notice of things or events on a new level. Then we have a choice. We either embrace the new and different, or reject it and return to “our normal”. But either way, we choose.

Normal depends on environment. If we are walking in downtown New York at lunch time, seeing men dressed in suits and ties is normal. Seeing that man show up at the beach and lay out a beach blanket while clad in suit and tie is strange. Seeing someone in a bathing suit carrying a beach towel in downtown Boston at lunch would also seem a bit abnormal.

What is normal? The culture of the world has their normal. The culture of the church has theirs. “Normal” depends on where we are fitting in. We can’t be normal in both cultures and really connect. We have to decide where we belong. And then allow that to become our normal.

It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before… to test your limits… to break through barriers. – Anais Nin

Remember… When we fully embrace the things of God we will stand out to those who have embraced the world. That’s a good thing. How else will they be shaken out of their “normal”?

Blessings,