Finding a new normal

My wife and I went to the theater tonight to see Spamalot. It’s an interesting show because it’s a spoof on a movie that was a spoof on the story of King Arthur. It was hilarious from start to finish. Well worth seeing.

On our way home I saw a billboard advertising a local radio station. There wasn’t a lot of info on it, just the logo of the radio station and several names of bands that the station plays. Simple, effective communication.

But at the bottom, in very big letters it said “Go _ _ ck yourself!” It didn’t spell it out; it actually has the two blank spaces on the sign.

The funny thing is that at first I didn’t know what the letters were that went in the blanks. Seriously, it probably took 20-30 seconds to realize that it was the “f” word!

I have to tell you that this was an interesting turn of events because I spent 21 years in the military, 14 of those years as a mechanic! The “f” word was used as a comma in every sentence I spoke for many years. So it was weird that it took me so long to fill in the blanks.

What I’ve realized though, is that since I gave my life to Christ I have a new normal. No, I’m not perfect and sometimes I say dumb things, but it’s not normal any longer to know that the “f” word is the first response.

I have no idea what the point of the billboard was by telling passersby to go have sex with themselves. I realize that in our secular world that kind of statement is normal. Shocking people is “cool” and saying the crudest thing possible is considered hip.

I see more and more as Christ sets up shop in my heart that the normal behaviors of this world are no longer mine. The cool thing is that it's not me trying to make myself into a different person, Christ is changing me from the inside out in ways I never thought possible.

I think I like my new normal. What’s yours?

“God, thank you so much for saving me and living in my heart. Life is so much clearer now, and I love that my normal is so different than it used to be. Thanks!”