8/10/11 It was a crystal clear moment. That moment of clarity that doesn't appear very often in those who struggle mentally. But, it happened. Montaire, Lord. And, Billy, too.

Billy, one of our new brothers, on fire for You, also struggles a bit mentally but is very functional. He does well when he's on his meds. Billy, well, Lord, how can I say this kindly, simply won't shut up talking about You. That's a good thing.

First thing this morning, I catch Billy praying, holding hands with Montaire. And Montaire is praying with him. When they finish, I invite them into my office, and that's when it happened.

Montaire got very serious, looked me in the eye, spoke of his mental struggles, where he's been in life, how he trusts You, and how You've carried him along in life. I asked him if he'd ever given his life to You, and he replied that he accepted You just last night.

I asked, "Have you been baptized?" to which he responded, "No! But I really want to!"

In speaking about his difficulties, I asked Montaire, "What's your toughest struggle?"

He just stared for a moment, "Just being able to live life, bro. Anthony." When I asked what he meant, he shared, with the clarity of any sane person I know, about his life with mental illness, of how he doesn't always know what's going on, and the choices he made that got him in his situation. He confessed his sins but also that he believes that Jesus is the Son of the Living God.

As we walked to the car to take Montaire to be immersed, Daniel, one of the other guys stopped me, "You're not gonna kidnap my buddy are you?" At first I wasn't sure what he meant, but it hit me. Daniel was asking if I was taking Montaire to the mental hospital. I told him I was not.

Daniel smiled, "Thanks. You know, Montaire and grew up together. He wasn't like that in high school. Something happened to him." Daniel cares about his friend, and was happy about Montaire's decision to become Your child.

Montaire was sort of in and out mentally as we went through the process of immersion. But his moments of clarity caused me to think that I often have unclear moments when I allow sin in my life, that lead me to make poor choices, and that given just a few different set of circumstances, I could be Montaire, who today would be helping me.

Sanity can be relative, and often defined by those who need a bit more of it. Insanity? Having a bit of it never kept anyone from receiving Jesus and making Him Lord. You being the Lord of healing, please take care of my friend Montaire, Lord, Your child who has come home.

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind ... Mark 5:15, NIV