I have a dear, close friend who went crazy. He calls himself, in a very significant way, a crazy Christian. It was somewhat of a Nebuchadnezzar experience. Read Daniel Chapter 4 and you’ll get a taste of where my friend traveled in his insanity. He was progressively placed in three different institutions. It was a bit like Dante journeying from the inferno to heaven as my friend’s soul progressed through the darkest of nights. To his amazement, the final asylum brought him to a sense of what Christ delights in: humanity seeking the realization of its true self.
The asylum’s community was not much different than others, except the mental illness helped to bring intensity in transparency and vulnerability. The Hells Angels ‘mama,’ the for-real cowboy, the men from the hood, the wealthy investor, the grandmother, all shared the commonality of crazy. It brought greater degrees of understanding for the pain, depravity, and crush of the world upon their minds, hearts, souls, and spirits. Each sat in the others’ rubble of their lives; the failings, the wrong-doing, and the insanity were open wounds for each to see and mourn. The bleeding reality of their humanness brought them together; consoling, uplifting, and helping one another in the healing process.
It was among the asylum insane, that my friend experienced a glimpse of what Christ did for us in His becoming man. Our Lord and Savior immersed Himself into the depths of our very beings, our own personal asylums. He took on all the temptations and all the evils of all that we allow within. He willingly experienced the essence of what we each sinfully manifest and endure in the great sufferings in this world. Our wounds became His. He sits with you in your devastation. He is looking at you, loving you in this very moment, embracing all that you are. Now, it’s your turn, He wants you to experience His life, eternal life. What will you do?