Jesus frees a demon-possessed man
26 Jesus and his disciples sailed to the Gerasenes’ land, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a certain man met him. The man was from the city and was possessed by demons. For a long time, he had lived among the tombs, naked and homeless. 28 When he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down before him. Then he shouted, “ What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me! ” 29 He said this because Jesus had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken possession of him, so he would be bound with leg irons and chains and placed under guard. But he would break his restraints, and the demon would force him into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked him, “ What is your name? ”
“ Legion, ” he replied, because many demons had entered him. 31 They pleaded with him not to order them to go back into the abyss.t32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, 33 and the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned.
34 When those who tended the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and told the story in the city and in the countryside. 35 People came to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully dressed and completely sane. They were filled with awe. 36 Those people who had actually seen what had happened told them how the demon-possessed man had been delivered. 37 Then everyone gathered from the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave their area because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and returned across the lake. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged to come along with Jesus as one of his disciples. Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “ Return home and tell the story of what God has done for you. ” So he went throughout the city proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
Back: Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman was the tenth of thirteen children born to sharecroppers in Texas. As a young girl, she walked four miles to the Black, one-room schoolhouse. She was a good student and excelled in math. She attended college in Oklahoma, but for only one year due to financial concerns. With few opportunities in her hometown, Coleman moved to Chicago. There she heard WWI pilots' stories and became interested in flying. Discrimination kept her from obtaining a license, so she studied French and went to flight school in Paris. She became the first American to obtain a license from a French school, as well as the first licensed Black pilot in the U.S. She then studied exhibition flying and became well known as "Queen Bess", performing in popular stunt shows. Her ultimate goal was to earn enough money to open her own flight school. Unfortunately, while testing a plane she had purchased, she was thrown from the cockpit during a dive, and died at the age of 34. She is still remembered and honored today, inducted post-mortem into both the Women's Aviation Hall of Fame and the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.
If I take the wings of the morning…Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:9-10