It is strange to me how easily I recall dumb acts from childhood.

On one special Christmas, Santa Claus dropped off my first .22 rifle. I grew up in New Mexico hunting and fishing.

My brother and I ran with a couple other friends whose parents saw childrearing in the same light as our folks. As long as we checked in—and were mostly transparent as to our whereabouts—we had a lot of freedom.

Once we hit the legal driving age of 15, we would get our .22 rifles and find a piece of New Mexico’s open range to explore.

On one occasion just outside of the city limits, we discovered a pond surrounded by salt cedar bushes and overstocked with turtles. Naturally (and wrongly so), we at once thought of target shooting.

The heads and shells sparkled as the turtles peeked through the top of the water for air and a glimpse of the bright sunshine. Due to good cover within the salt cedar, the floating turtles were unaware of our presence.

Across the pond was a railroad track lined with boxcars. Being a mining town, trains stored on sidetracks weren’t an unusual sight.

As target practice started, we began to hear our bullets ricochet from the top of the water onto the sides of the boxcars. At the speed of light emergency flares were in the air above the train. Railway workers were not interested in an attack by ricocheting bullets.

That New Mexico afternoon was my first lesson on how bullets ricochet.

It occurs to me that the Holy Spirit of Jesus lives within and uses my life as a ricochet point. The Holy Spirit walks along beside me giving me the power to be his ricochet as I walk along beside others.

I don’t hear voices or receive smoke signals from the heavens. I am not on God’s speed dial. Never once—when I answered my cell phone—was Gabriel the caller.

Here is how I think it works. When baptized into Jesus, I arose from the water with the Holy Spirit living inside me. His residence with me dates back fifty-five years. He didn’t find the greatest of physical dwelling places but seems to be getting by.

When I walk in tune with the Spirit, my eyes see a different dimension. All sorts of needs and opportunities come into focus. Boom—before my Spirit oriented eyes stands a need.

The Spirit ricochets from my life to fill a need in the life of a fellow earthling.

Holy Spirit ricochets is a powerful concept. If I can spend my time walking close to Jesus and seeing my day through His eyes, I will be more likely to set aside Satan’s language of criticism and stop any tendencies I may have to take my brothers and sisters to doctrinal court.

I like the image of being a tin can filled with the Spirit. As a tin can, I attract the lightening of the Spirit. Boom—I can’t contain the Spirit’s power. When opportunity ignites the Spirit, my tin can life shoots Spirit ricochets in every direction and others are blessed.

Can you imagine the blow we could give to Satan if Christians would stop their criticism, align with the eyes of the Spirit, and let Jesus ricochet blessings to others using His children as the distribution point of powerful good?

Stay tuned.

Gary J. Sorrells – On Cross Church