I remember Reuben.

It was my first year as a part of the burning man team. I had been invited to go with a group that did readings, cleansing, interpretations, heart tranforms, etc. At first I thought it would not be fun. Creator did not listen but saw what was best for me, in his parenting way, he got me onboard.

When I was little, I was instructed by my family. In addition to being the keeper of secrets, I was to grow up, be a trainer of the way, then lay down my life so that my blood could further the line in power and anointing.

Yeah, it was a bad childhood.

There in the desert, I learned there was an altar at a structure they call the temple. The temple is where people go to leave what they can no longer carry. It burns at the end of the week. Cathartic, for a year. So when Creator said to me, I want you to go to the altar, and I want you to lie upon it, you can imagine my response. Initially, anyway. Creator fathered me through to more grace.

Wednesday of the week I woke up, knowing it was the day.

We worked in the tent until the sun finished. Then we were on our own. I took a buddy with me out to the deep playa where the temple stood. On our approach, I intuitively knew what to do at each boundary line. One was for lineage, if you do not know who you are there is permission for stuff once you cross the border that you may or may not like.

I know who I am. At least my spirit does and I noted how the recitation was in a different language.

The second perimeter line is the one where you state who you are with. If your leaders are recognized by the inner community there is an allowance for you to be there that does not exist if your group is unknown. More test is required with the latter.

There was the temple. And before it, the altar. The altar this year had stairs of ascension behind it. The area surrounding the altar had wood roundtables dedicated to faiths. I headed for the main event to get this act of lying upon the altar done. And stopped. I saw a man that I knew to be a Satanist. I do not know how I knew. But I knew, and he waited, sitting upon the altar. He saw me. I watched him listen to his guides as I frantically tried to connect with God’s Spirit.

‘I would be happy to do this Lord. Move him and I will go.’

Thinking I had prayed the right prayer, I moseyed over to examine the round wood tables more closely. My friend was busy looking at other things on the other side of the structure.

After a decent interval, with my friend still not visible, I headed back towards the altar. He was gone. I got closer. Oh no! He had climbed. He was sitting on the third step, the highest step on the ascension steps behind the altar.

Lord?

“I never do anything without a witness. Go quickly and do what you must do now.”

I felt his grace and power. I climbed awkwardly on top of the altar. Once there, I lay on my back. And the sobs began. And I realized I was there to repent, for the acts of atrocity. That I am so intimately familiar with, I cried out for mercy to those who sinned such.  The sobs wracked my body. What I uttered surely came from heaven and was expressed back to heaven through me.

And all the while, the man watched. As a witness.

The Lord spoke as the sobs lessened. When you were a child, you spoke as a child, you understood as a child, you thought as a child; compared to me, little one, Satanism is a childish thing.

What seemed like a long time passed. I got up. He was gone. And around the corner came my friend. I was done. We explored a little more, and then headed back to camp. I explained to a leader in brief words, what God had asked of me, and how I responded. It felt within protocol, but submitting to leaders is wise. He was fine with it.

I felt like the altar had been my divine appointment, the most important I would have that year.

But the next day in the tent, Reuben came.

Our leader had met Reuben in center camp. He was doing readings there. Our leader had invited him to come check us out. And he came. The leader came up to me as my team got ready for another encounter. He said, I got one for you, in my ear. He went back up to the front, got Reuben and brought him to sit with us. Reuben sat. I saw him peering into me. He was using his gift. He smiled and said, what do you have for me? I knew we were being tested. I looked beyond his eyes. I saw little lights with little question marks behind every one. I knew what I saw. The lights were the things he had explored. The question marks were the things that were unanswered by the exploration. I shared with him that I saw a big question in his center. I asked if I could invite White Light to come and answer that question. He said yes, and the fun began. The more he yielded the more he received from God. God came in power for Reuben.  He shaked, he shuddered, he quaked, he bent, he moaned. He cried. He gasped. He changed. The leader came over at one point to tell things unclean to go. He dodged as they left with violent force. It was a conversion as in the days of old. The power of God went as deep as Reuben wanted and he had wanted for so long. The moment came when Reuben needed better language, and our leader explained he was experiencing King Jesus. I remember as Reuben left that day, transformed, that he declared he was going to go to the temple and tell everyone what King Jesus had done for him! It was straight out of the book of Acts. The leader looked at me then, and said, this was why you got on the altar. And I knew. God’s ways, impossible to predict and as impossible to deny. Reuben spent a lot of that week with us.