Jesus Could Be Bald
By Phil Scovell
Recently, my wife and I experienced a disagreement. After
almost 33 years of being married to the same person, you pretty
well have covered just about everything at least once in your
marital arguments. It is always the nature of argumentation,
however, to cover old ground repetitively. Why? Because it
increases the level of intensity each person is trying to
express, or inflict upon the other, whichever the case may be,
and repeating old stuff, especially old stuff you have seen work
well in the past, gives you the edge. Well, at least it seems
that way at the time. Later, it never seems that way, of course,
but now is what we are discussing and not later. So, as I was
saying, Sandy and I were in a disagreement over something.
Frankly, I cannot honestly recall how it began but this is often
true of arguments.
Before continuing, let me give you a tip. If you can't find
a soft spot upon which to hammer on while arguing, drag up your
in-laws and their obvious lack of good character. This always
works in raising your point average because, as we all know,
winning the argument, any argument, is the name of the game. No,
we don't care if we are truly right; we only care that we end up
on the winning side and bless God, if you have to toss in your
mate's family and sacrifice them to win the argument, by all
means, do so. No, it doesn't matter if your in-laws are already
dead; you can use them as part of the argument. If you want to
win, that is. Now, back to what I was saying.
So Sandy and I are deep into this disagreement. Both of us
were making some fairly good points and to be honest, neither of
us tossed in our families as fighting elements. Well, at least
not this time.
At this point, I want to clearly state that my wife was 100
percent correct. Well, maybe it was more like 98 percent.
Truly, there was nothing wrong with the feelings she had about
the issue she had raised. Strangely enough, I freely admitted
she was right and that I understood why she was bringing this up
and why she felt hurt and frustrated. Being right, however,
doesn't always win an argument. Let me try and explain what I
mean.
In this case, as I stated, not only was my wife right but I
admitted she was. I made my admission for a couple of reasons.
First, she was right, I'm not for sure why I keep saying that,
but secondly, and most importantly, the truth wasn't causing me
any concern. You see, over the years, such things would have
done exactly that; cause me concern, that is, or discomfort. In
fact, it likely would have literally hurt my feelings. It always
would not be uncommon for me to go away feeling depressed because
of the feelings stirred up within me during the argument. In
this example, no such thing happened. Why? Because I was able
to admit my wife was right and that I, furthermore, understood
why she felt the way she did, but this time I felt different.
Literally, what she said wasn't stirring anything up that would
cause me emotional discomfort, consternation, or pain. Why not?
There is only one answer. In the last two years, I have
experienced an unmeasurable amount of healing in my life. In
fact, through healing prayers, the Lord has touched areas of my
life which used to bring me discouragement and depression and
even anxiety. Let me make up a story to explain what I am
saying.
Let's say the issue is a good friend hurt your feelings.
You had decided to go western but you weren't quite certain you
wanted to go all the way in case somebody called you a cowboy.
So you buy, for the first time, a nice pair of cowboy boots. No
western shirt, no spurs, no horse, no saddle, no cowboy hat, and
no rawhide stringed tie with a turquoise clip. Just boots.
You and your closed friend meet up at a local coffee shop
and split a cinnamon bun. You are feeling good so you pop for
the coffee and the bun. During your coffee date with your best
friend, he comments on your boots, making no unfavorable remarks,
but simply commenting that he never figured you to be that sort
of a guy. You suddenly feel uncomfortable and conspicuous, too,
but you don't know why. You are definitely bothered, though.
Upon leaving the doughnut shop, and just before climbing
into your car, your buddy says, staring down at your new shiny
boots, "Nope. I never would have figured you to be a guy who
would wear boots. I wouldn't personally be caught dead in them
myself." You both laugh, shake hands, and go your separate ways.
His words touched something deep but after spending three days
thinking about it and even awakening in the middle of the night
once, due to your emotional discomfort, you still can't figure
out why his joking remarks bother you.
One day, after the morning service, you are visiting with
your pastor. Everyone has left the building by this time so you
comment on this experience to your pastor because it has caused
you a great deal of anxiety, for some reason, and you don't like
how you are feeling. He invites you into his office and you both
take a seat. Your pastor begins to pray and says, "Lord, Tom has
been stirred up in his emotions about what brother Frank said at
coffee the other day. Would you show Tom where these feelings
first began?"
After a few moments of quiet, suddenly you remember. You
and your bald headed father are walking down a city street one
evening. You are four years of age and your dad his holding your
hand. Coming to a street crossing, you both stop and wait for
the light to change. Some scruffy looking teenage boys are
smoking and leaning up against the building. You turn and see
them laughing and pointing. At first you don't understand but
your father says, "It's ok, Tommy. Let's go." The light has
changed and your dad starts walking you across the street. The
boys, braver now that distance has been put between you, call out
and make fun of your dad's bald head. It feels scary to you and
for a minute, you sense a strong feeling that the mean boys might
follow and try and hurt you. It feels like a sharp stick was
poked in your back as they mocked and derided your father for
being bald. You hear your dad speaking again. "It's ok, Tommy.
They can't hurt anybody. Just don't bother looking back."
Now you are 48 years old and feeling stupid that you
purchased a pair of cowboy boots. Why? As you pray the prayer
of agreement with your pastor, the Holy Spirit reveals to you
that first the boys scared you. Then you hear Jesus saying, "It
is ok now, Tommy. Besides, I was there, too, and I won't let
anything happen to you." The anxiety you've been having vanishes
as if it had never really existed. The relief, although
incomplete, is instant.
"What else Lord does Tom need to see about this memory?"
your pastor prays.
Now you see it easily. You were embarrassed due to your
dad's bald head and you say as much to your pastor. You know how
foolish that seems now as an adult but as a four year old, you
were simply too small to comprehend the cascading thoughts
tumbling through your mind at the time. Besides, the fear was
their and that made everything feel real to you.
"then what does Tom need to hear from you, Lord," you hear
your pastor praying quietly.
A few short silent moments pass and then you begin laughing.
It starts out as a soft chuckle but with each passing moment,
things begin to snowball on you and you find yourself totally
helpless to stop it. The wheels suddenly come off your normal
self controlled demeanor and you are irreversibly and recklessly
laughing hysterically. Tears begin running down your cheeks and
throwing your head back and opening your mouth wide, you bay at
the ceiling; releasing the loudest laughter you have ever
experienced in your life. Your laughter is so infectious, your
pastor is now laughing as hard as you are.
After a good fifteen minutes of stopping and starting up
again, you both finally have regained a measure of control.
Still, a burst of laughter escapes from one or the other as you
both sit lost in your own thoughts.
Finally, after blowing your nose, you ask the pastor what he
was laughing about. Instead of answering your question, he asks
you to go first. "Well," you say, "like I told you. Dad and I
are walking across the street when the light changed and these
punks are making fun of dad's bald head. I was seeing this in my
mind's eye as you prayed, when all of the sudden, I realized the
person walking next to me and holding my hand wasn't my dad but
was the Lord." At this point an entire new fit of explosive
laughter, volcanic guffaws, and knee slapping howls fills the
pastor's study; shared by both men.
Eventually, after Herculean efforts, you both regain
control. "So what did you see, Tom," the pastor said; holding
his aching temples.
"Pastor," you reply with the most powerful smile you have
ever had, "I saw Jesus holding my hand and walking across the
street with me."
"Tom," your pastor says, trying to keep from laughing, "You
are repeating yourself. What is so funny about seeing Jesus
walking you across the street instead of your dad?"
"Because," you detonate with atom splitting laughter, "Jesus
was bald."
In my fictitious story, which I have seen repeated endlessly
in similar prayer sessions, the man with the new cowboy boots was
triggered by a totally harmless comment by his best friend.
Through prayer, the source of this woundedness was discovered,
the fear was eliminated, the personal embarrassment exposed, and
truth applied.
First, let's identify the lies. The little boy was afraid.
That was natural. What wasn't natural about is that the fear
followed him through his entire life and was constantly being
triggered in various ways. The literal lie was, "Those boys are
going to come and get you and hurt you." Jesus exposed this for
what it was, a lie, and because the man heard Jesus say the He,
Jesus, was with him, the lie lost its worth as a threat and the
fear disappeared. What was the purpose of the fear? It masked
the demonic lie, that is, the embarrassment the little boy had
about his father. Once the fear was eliminated by the healing
power of the Lord, the lie was easily exposed and removed.
Secondly, the little boy was embarrassed by the baldness of
his father. Again, not an uncommon situation for any child. I
can't tell you the number of times I was embarrassed by things my
mom and dad did when I was growing up. The lie, in this memory,
was not that it was wrong for his father to be bald but that he,
Tom, was somehow apart of this ridicule. Furthermore, the little
boy took it personally. From that point onward, he was always
sensitive to what others said and thought of him. In my
illustrative story, Jesus used His sense of humor to bring
healing to the little boy by showing him that the one who was
walking with him now and holding his little hand in his big hand,
was the King of the universe. Additionally, Jesus showed the
little boy that baldness, to Him, was no big deal. The little
boy, and therefore the grown man, were healed and the lies never
would effect him again.
About this time, I hear someone saying, "How could all that
be true?" Call me on the phone and let's pray together. I'll
let Jesus prove to you it's true.
Furthermore, I have had many such personal healings in my
own life and literally seen hundreds of other memories healed in
the lives of other Christians through the prayer of agreement.
Concerning the argument with my wife? Well, since what she
was saying was true, there I go again admitting it, and since I
had been healed in so many areas related to inferiority, a
worthless self image, and personal embarrassment, what she said
didn't hurt and could not trigger the lies I once had believed.
The same thing can happen to you. Just call me and find out how
easily you can be healed and your mind renewed.
Safe Place Fellowship
Phil Scovell
Denver, Colorado - Mountain Time Zone
Phone: 303-507-5175
Web: WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.COM
Web: WWW.RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG
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