"Why would you try to paint the exterior of your house when we are into a season of never ending rain?" asked Ed, my neighbour next door.
"I'm an incurable optimist," I answered.
"More like you're not in your right mind," snapped Ed.
"When I'm crawling around on the roof trying to paint trim that is hard to get at, I think I must be out of my mind also. The extension ladder seems 10 times heavier than normal. The paint has been downright rebellious - dripping and spilling all over the place for no good reason. The paint is supposed to clean up with water, but the paint trays, rollers, and brushes won't hear of it. If I were you, Ed, I'd be smoking in my garage and drinking a good number of glasses of whisky to ease the stress of painting," I told Ed.
"If you were me," he replied, "you wouldn't paint your house, but cover it up with siding and then forget it. You would have a cigarette and glass of whiskey as you watch your old neighbor paint his house in the rainy season and question his sanity."
The dictionary defines sane as mentally healthy, rational, sound and sensible. Sanity is the state of being sane, having a soundness of judgment. Painting the exterior of one's house is a sane thing to do, but painting it in the rain does question if one is using sound judgment. In spite of what Ed says, I have not been painting my house in the rain. The rain has kept me from getting much painting done. So far I have not run around my house yelling and crying, screaming and carrying on that I cannot paint because of the frequent rain. A great deal of what I regularly do, like going to church on Sundays, planting a large garden and travelling a good deal, seems to Ed like a lack of sound judgment on my part.
There will always be a debate about who is sane and sensible and who is not. There will always be those whom people fear because they are seen as insane. Jesus met a man named Legion who was considered insane because he lived naked among the tombs. He was tormented in his mind and was kept bound in chains and shackles, but with great strength he would break his restraints and run into the desert. He was called demon possessed. When Jesus cured him and the man was in his right mind and clothed again, his neighbors were afraid. In fact, the people asked Jesus to go away. They were afraid of Jesus because he cured the man called Legion.
Jesus had compassion on those that were tormented in their minds and who were caught in desperate ways because of it. Jesus had compassion on those suffering in mind and emotions, actions of self destruction and irrational behavior. He enabled people with mental illnesses to live in their right minds once more.
When I paint my house, I cover over and refresh it with a new coat of paint. Jesus had, and continues to have, the greatest power to transform minds and actions. He brings peace, health, and good judgment to tormented minds. He is far more powerful than a tranquilizer, cigarette, or glass of whiskey. These things only cover over, but have no real power to heal.
