This thread is intended to complement my other thread on speaking in tongues by focusing on some of the key charismatic and paranormal experiences that shaped my faith and thought throughout my life. These experiences will eventually illustrate what it can mean to grow up Pentecostal and how speaking in tongues can serve as a gateway experience leading to other gifts of the Spirit. This post gives my first 2 examples.
(1) There was no children's church in Calvary Temple. So I was a squirmy unhappy 5-year-old when I was forced to sit through a 1 1/2 hour long Pentecostal Sunday worship service week after week. In frustration my parents stayed home one July Sunday and I was ecstatic. I rode my little tricycle up and down the block, noticing the newly polished blue Chevy with huge tailfins parked behind the Jewish shoe store on the corner. I delighted in how it shone in the sunlight and returned to renew my delight again and again.
Then it happened. As I again approached the Chevy, my attention was suddenly directed to patch of blue sky next to the sun. Wave after wave of liquid love surged through my being, as I suddenly became aware that there really was a God who loved me. I told my parents about my experience, but it didn't register--until neighbors later came over and expressed delight in my testimony to God's love to their own little children.
I still hated church and used to sneak out to buy life savers and browse comic books at the little store across the street from the church. After a while, the storekeeper shooed me out and I vividly recall standing outside the store, sucking on my life savers and pondering the meaning of life.
(2) At age 11. I decided to please my parents by requesting water baptism. I had to attend catechetical classes and was the only child present. I recall all the abstract talk of propitiation, justification, and sanctification, which added up to so much excruciation for me because I had no clue what those big words meant. The teacher told us (quoting Colossians) that we needed to be "circumcised in spirit," which might have been meaningful if I'd known what circumcision was!
Finally, 11 adult men and one child (me) were baptized in a Sunday evening service before 1,5OO people. I was terrified, especially because we were all expected to share our personal testimonies and I was too nervous to address that huge crowd. When my time came to wade out in the huge baptismal tank behind the pulpit, I was afraid my black robe would float up, exposing my nakedness. I was humiliated when the pastor asked me to share my testimony because I was the only one who declined to do so. So the pastor asked me some catechetical questions about what I believed instead. By this time, humiliated, I just wanted to get it over with. But after being dunked, I emerged from the water to be greeted by a vision of a smiling Jesus--the only waking vision I have ever had. He conveyed both amusement and empathy at my predicament and His presence transformed an embarrassing experience into one of the most sacred moments of my life. Like Jesus, I had experienced a vision of the divine at my baptism.
#1
(1) There was no children's church in Calvary Temple. So I was a squirmy unhappy 5-year-old when I was forced to sit through a 1 1/2 hour long Pentecostal Sunday worship service week after week. In frustration my parents stayed home one July Sunday and I was ecstatic. I rode my little tricycle up and down the block, noticing the newly polished blue Chevy with huge tailfins parked behind the Jewish shoe store on the corner. I delighted in how it shone in the sunlight and returned to renew my delight again and again.
Then it happened. As I again approached the Chevy, my attention was suddenly directed to patch of blue sky next to the sun. Wave after wave of liquid love surged through my being, as I suddenly became aware that there really was a God who loved me. I told my parents about my experience, but it didn't register--until neighbors later came over and expressed delight in my testimony to God's love to their own little children.
I still hated church and used to sneak out to buy life savers and browse comic books at the little store across the street from the church. After a while, the storekeeper shooed me out and I vividly recall standing outside the store, sucking on my life savers and pondering the meaning of life.
(2) At age 11. I decided to please my parents by requesting water baptism. I had to attend catechetical classes and was the only child present. I recall all the abstract talk of propitiation, justification, and sanctification, which added up to so much excruciation for me because I had no clue what those big words meant. The teacher told us (quoting Colossians) that we needed to be "circumcised in spirit," which might have been meaningful if I'd known what circumcision was!
Finally, 11 adult men and one child (me) were baptized in a Sunday evening service before 1,5OO people. I was terrified, especially because we were all expected to share our personal testimonies and I was too nervous to address that huge crowd. When my time came to wade out in the huge baptismal tank behind the pulpit, I was afraid my black robe would float up, exposing my nakedness. I was humiliated when the pastor asked me to share my testimony because I was the only one who declined to do so. So the pastor asked me some catechetical questions about what I believed instead. By this time, humiliated, I just wanted to get it over with. But after being dunked, I emerged from the water to be greeted by a vision of a smiling Jesus--the only waking vision I have ever had. He conveyed both amusement and empathy at my predicament and His presence transformed an embarrassing experience into one of the most sacred moments of my life. Like Jesus, I had experienced a vision of the divine at my baptism.
#1
