He touched me!

The man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument

(author unknown)

It has been said that the reason God created people is that He loves stories--and we all have stories.   Jesus told the man in the Gospel who was healed, "Go and tell what God has done for you." 

Sharing our "beliefs" is interesting on an intellectual level, but it is only our stories that cannot be contradicted or debated.  People may accuse us of being crazy or of having hallucinations, but if we appear sane at all, our stories must carry some weight. 

That is why salvation history is the history of stories:  This is what happened to us!  After the fact, we can philosophize, theorize as to why it happened, and theologize---but we must always come back to what actually happened: 

• We were enslaved in Egypt, but God led us out by miracles
• An angel appeared to me and told me.....
• In the desert, we hungered and thirsted, and God fed us and provided water for us....
• I / we saw Jesus after His resurrection from the dead, and He told me....

Yesterday, I was talking with a neighbor who told me that he had seen a UFO many years ago.  From knowing the man, I cannot conclude that he is lying, or that he is delusional.  I must believe that he did see what he described to me.  I have no explanation, since I have never really believed in UFO's.  I can theorize as to what he might have experienced, but I cannot deny his experience. 

When the Jehovah's Witnesses tell me that there is no such Person as the Holy Spirit, but that it is only the energy of God, I can tell them that I have met the Holy Spirit in Person, and that He not only exists, but dwells within me to guide and to teach me.  I can tell many stories to illustrate the ways in which I have been led and taught.  I do not need to convince them of my experience, but I do need to tell them what I have seen and heard and "touched with my own hands," to quote John the Evangelist.

The reason the Son of God became man was so that we could encounter and experience the God who lives among us, making His tent in our lives and spaces.  "He touched me!"  Until we can say this with all truth and sincerity, our beliefs are mere hopes and dreams.