Anniversary of My Awakening Coinciding with Obama and MLK Day

landed on a Monday like today that was also Martin Luther 

King's Day), I had a spiritual awakening.  It was the 

first I had of its kind and I probably hadn't had one 

like it since.

 Don't get me wrong.  I've made a lot of spiritual 

progress since then, but that one was just so sudden and 

it came upon me with so much power and love from God.  It 

was so sudden and it was so needed as I was going through 

a major depression back then.  (I've since spoken to 

someone who was clinically depressed and on medication.  

She told me that my case was worse than hers, and that if 

I would've saught medical attention, they would 

definitely have medicated me.)

 Anyway, that awakening brought me out of that depression 

without any medical attention or drugs.  God can do 

amazing things.

 Ever since that awakening, I've also been making progress 

in my life in terms of following not only what's "safe" 

but following God and following what He has placed in my 

heart.  I've made decisions that did not and still does 

not make sense to many (especially when many only know 

one way, one program,... with a one track mind.  Not that 

 that one track is wrong.  When so many people follow the 

same track or same type of life, it's got to be working 

(to a certain extent).  But it's just not the only way, 

or even the best way as most people think.  Anyway, I 

digress.

 11 years ago, when I had the sudden awakening that God 

brought on upon me, I was living by myself in San 

Leandro, California.  The awakening came upon me after 

the night before (or shortly after 12am on 1/21/2002).  

Then I went to sleep probably with the best sleep I've 

had for awhile upto that point.  When I awoke in the 

morning, I drove down to the closest book store, Borders 

in Union City and asking God to give me answers.  

(This is probably not significant, but I thought I would 

include this detail anyway.  After going through a lot of 

books, two books captivated me on that day.  If I 

remember correctly, they were  _Not Your Mother's Life_ 

by Joan K. Peters and _The Call to the Soul_ by Marjory 

Zoet Bankson.)

 

 Despite gradual progress since then and despite having 

gone on a less traveled road that I needed to get on, I 

still seem to have a long ways to go.  Maybe you would 

like to hear me say that "I've come a long way" which may 

be true, but it seems to me that I have a much longer way 

to go.  I won't say that I am tired but I do feel fed up 

on some days because I am not as far along as I had 

planned (although progress has been apparent).

 Back in my awakening of January 21st, 2002, I did not 

know why God chose Martin Luther King's Day to awaken me. 

  Since then, I can see a little bit more of why, but I 

probably do not know entirely yet why God chose MLK day  

And the mystery expands as this year, my anniversary of 

my spiritual awakening is again on a Martin Luther King's 

Monday and it coincides with Barack Obama's public 

inauguration of his second term as President of the 

United States.

 Now I've been learning about Barack Obama even before he 

became President, just as I've been learning about a 

number of others who I consider to be iconoclasts (Sergei 

Brin, Larry Page, Rick Warren, Joyce Meyer, Steve Jobs, 

Taylor Swift, Matt Damon,...)  From what I've seen and 

read about, Obama is someone I admire.  (It doesn't mean 

I agree with everything he believes in his idealogy, but 

I don't think there's anyone we would agree with entirely 

including those we admire or look up to.

 Well anyway (to conclude this journal entry), I will say 

that I've made progress since January 21st, 2002, but I 

have a lot more progress to make.  May God bless me even more so than He has and 

be with me.  I am sure more will be revealed to me.