Crazy for Jesus, Norman Stephens

I was dissatisfied with my childhood and especially with school. I struggled to get a college degree and a good job at Texas Instruments, got married, had children, and spent four years in the Air Force, but at twenty eight I was very dissatisfied with my life. I began secretly to plan my suicide. At an especially low point in my life, on December 5^th 1974, the Lord Jesus introduced Himself to me and I said ``YES'' to Him. For about a year and a half I was ``crazy for Jesus'' (or hot, as in Rev 3:15, which in Greek, means boiling) but that ``honeymoon'' soon wore off because I didn't know how to maintain my joy in my spirit where the Lord Jesus dwells. Once again I was dissatisfied--not with the Lord Jesus, but with my inability to maintain my enjoyment of Him. In my misery I cried out to the Lord--I point blank told Him that ``if this was His best, He could keep it! I intended to go back to the world.''

Earlier that spring of 1976 I had met a brother at work who was also ``crazy for Jesus.'' Less than a week after I had cried out to the Lord he invited me to his home for supper and to go to a meeting of the church in Dallas. I was struck with not only the practical ministry of the Word (I still remember the message and how the Lord Jesus helped and comforted me with it) but also the believers' burning ``crazy for Jesus'' love for the Lord. However, this practice of calling ``Lord Jesus'' out loud, and even with other believers, seemed too much to me.

Not long after that meeting the Lord gave me a clear education on ``calling on Him''. I was on my way home from work at dusk. As I topped an overpass on a busy major Dallas expressway my truck stopped running. As I coasted into the grass beside the highway a man rammed me from the rear. My head snapped back--breaking the rear window. His truck was nearly destroyed, yet I only lost a window and a taillight. As I got out of my truck the other fellow charged into my face, obviously very drunk, yelling at me how I ``ruined his truck''. Having experience in Karate, as my head began to clear, I began to look for the right opportunity to try to kill him--I was that angry. As I prepared to strike the Lord Jesus spoke ``DON''T TOUCH HIM--CALL ON ME!'' So I started `roaring' in his face ``Lord Jesus!'' again and again. In less than a minute, even though it was getting dark, a car pulled over. Out got a man wearing the brightest red sportscoat I have ever seen. He stepped between us and pushed us apart. He declared that he worked for the Dallas police department and he was going to search the other man's truck. Immediately after that, a brother who met with the church in Dallas pulled over and stayed with me until the police had finished their investigation. Our Jesus really does love us!

I have since become even more of a crazy lover of Jesus, in part because of ``calling.'' I really enjoy calling on the Lord at every time, in every place! I have been greatly helped by the footnote on calling from Acts 2:21 in the Recovery Version of the New Testament. There are so many verses on calling that it is nearly overwhelming. Thank the Lord for such a practical truth.