Am I crazy?

My family and friends have, at times, considered me to be a bit crazy, no question! Among other reasons, they view me as habitually speaking, in what my psychologist friend calls, “circular speech.” In other words, I have a hard time staying on topic, and I often circumvent the point I am trying to make with other unnecessary details.  In an effort to remind me to focus, my husband often gently prompts me to “land that plane, Carole.” In addition, I have over 50,000 unread emails on my phone, and currently ninety unread text messages. I truly don’t understand why my phone often becomes the topic of conversation and concern.  Do these idiosyncrasies make me crazy?

In the book of Acts, Paul was considered crazy for another reason. Festus, one of the Roman authorities charged with prosecuting Paul as he stood before King Agrippa, said to him, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind” (Acts 26:25). Why was Paul considered crazy? Simply, he believed in Jesus Christ. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Now this is a kind of crazy that I can proudly claim.

I recently came across this wonderful quote by A.W. Tozer.

“A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for one whom he has never seen; talks familiarly every day to someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest; and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge. The man who has met God is not looking for anything; he has found it. He is not searching for light, for upon him the light has already shined...”

—A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1955), 156