Last night I was at home laying in bed thinking about some things, I wont put on a front or anything, i was really frustrated about something. As I was laying there thinking about about a million things, my mind was racing, blood pressure was rising and I was getting angry. At that moment in the middle of all this personal chaos I was reminded of something from my childhood. A movie that I had watched when I was in my early teens, well it was a movie but it was of a man telling a story, the video was titled A man called Norman. Oddly enough I had not watched this video in years and the story I had not heard for so long was burning into my mind, I remembered most of it but there was a few parts that were a little sketchy so I got my phone out and went to my YouTube app and searched the title. Sure enough someone had posted the audio in four separate parts. I was taken back to when I was 13 and laying on the couch when I had first watched it. It is a true story of how God used a man that was looked at funny and thought to be evil and mean, to change another mans life. It is a funny serious story that can humble and really make you examine your heart. The man was an outcast, in bible time he would be looked at as someone that had leprosy or some other unclean deformity. Norman was shunned by the community, laughed at and mocked. The kids were afraid of him, and Norman after being beat down with looks and words and snow balls learned to play his part well also. He learned that if he would run at them and scream and growl that they would leave him alone, so after being treated this way so long it sunk in and he felt the way they treated him. God used that man to change the story teller, Mike Adkins life. As God laid Norman on his heart time and time again after they became neighbors, Mike after much self deliberation answered the call. It started out with a broken lawn mower, and although Mike did not know much about lawn mowers he did not let that be an excuse to not go over there. That small gesture of going over there put a smile on Normans face. It started to build a relationship, and it didn't take long from that point that the Lord was working on Norman and Mikes heart. God continually put Mike in situations that he did not want to be in, he did not want to be looked at by his neighbors and church friends, he did not want to be labeled or scoffed at because of his association with the town "weirdo". To keep this short the two became friends fro the rest of Normans life, Norman asked Jesus into his heart and Mike was taught that Love is the ONLY way. We can have talent and look good and play the part of a Christian all day long for our entire life, but as 1 Corinthians 13 says "if we don't have Love, we don't have anything". Mike tells of how he had been pushing for his ministry to start and he was working to be a evangelist and be successful in ministry when he realized through Norman that he did not have a true heart of compassion, he did not have love. As I was so frustrated and laying in my bed, God brought this story to my remembrance, my frustration seemed so small after hearing this story again. My Heart grew soft as I began to think of the "normans" in my life. The people that are behind the scenes that we miss or avoid. Mike had a man called Norman. You have a man called _____? As i challenge myself to step out and show love, I challenge you to do the same.
Brandon Grant NTM
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