Today, I'm Celebrating My Other Birthday
This One is for Eternity
Dear Readers,
This post was published earlier today on The Talking Pen, (my creative writing Substack). I’m republishing it here for those who do not subscribe to that publication.
I hope each of you will celebrate with me on this special day in my life by reading and listening to the radio drama broadcast (links below)…
We all (well most of us, anyway) love when our birthday rolls around each year - The gifts, the attention, and most of all, the fact that we woke up on this side of the dirt to start another lap.
I’m especially thankful when I remember how, early in my 71 years on this earth, I walked along blissfully ignorant of the dangerously foolish things I did. I can only look up and give thanks for the long-suffering of the Almighty for preserving my life for His sake.
So, today, June 15, is a celebration day. Forty-three years ago today, the most significant event in my life happened. It is the day of my “real” birthday. No, not the one when I was physically born in Charleston, South Carolina decades before. That date is January 23.
You see, on this day in 1981, after a 28-year gestation period, I was born a second time in a hotel room in Omaha, Nebraska.
This was a Spiritual birth.
The providential labor pains (the people and circumstances God placed in my life) leading up to this day, increased in frequency and intensity in the last few months of preparation.
When exactly the right time arrived, I was handed a small pamphlet (by someone I had never met, in a place I had never been) with instructions for what to do next. My heart pounded in anticipation (for what, I did not know at that moment).
As I read, something amazing happened - A Spiritual live-birth occurred. My eyes opened for the first time to a brand new world that I had been longing for, but until this moment, was not able to see or comprehend.
I finally understood what Jesus, the Great Physician, had been preparing me for. This scene is described in Chapter Seven of Coming Home: A Sailor's Story:
It felt as if a brand new body had been dropped into my skin and that I was a new person (something I later learned is exactly what happened).
Immediately, I knew I was a new and completely different person, though I didn’t fully understand all the ramifications right then.
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
This Spiritual Birth is described by the Apostle John:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. - John 1:12-13
By the way, this was the subject of an intense conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1-7.
That day was the beginning of a brand-new life - An incredible mixture of joy & sorrow, love & heartbreak, abundance & scarcity, trials & blessings, and failures & victories. All designed to teach me to live out this new life I have been given, trusting the guidance of the One who gave it.
A life I would not trade for all the world’s riches. The blessings poured out on me since that day are almost too overwhelming to think about.
I am deeply grateful to start another year serving my God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
If you have an interest, you can listen to a two-part radio drama version of this story written, produced, performed (with actors and sound effects), and recorded for live broadcast and online listening by the Unshackled radio program:
Unshackled: Cork Hutson Part One
Unshackled: Cork Hutson Part Two
It is incredibly humbling to know that since its original production in 2015, this story has been translated into multiple languages and broadcast around the world.
Thank you for listening. I hope you will enjoy it and think about what you’ve heard …
Cork Hutson, June 15, 2024
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O Happy Day!
Happy Spiritual Birthday 🥳