The Holy Spirit has history

 (Samarians) believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; they were baptized, both men and women....When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.  When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there to receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had "only" been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Peter and John placed their hands on them, the received the Holy Spirit.  Acts 8: 12, 14-17

(This scripture is part of the evangelizing story written in the midst of a person trying to monetize the new faith and its seeming success.  This I will not discuss, but I want to highlight the activity of the Holy Spirit.)

As a child who grew up on a farm where there were no city lights and older cousins told stories about ghosts in the graveyard and in the hills surround my grandparents' farm, I held a dim (or grim) view of interacting with any ghosts.  Thus, I had NO interest in ghosts, holy or otherwise.  Yet, seated in the heart of my Methodist upbringing was the Apostle's Creed.  Even if I did not know the books of the Bible very well, I did know the Apostle's Creed from memory.  I remember now being perplexed by the words "...and in the Holy Ghost."  Although I do not remember ever being taught about this Ghost, I did know he appeared in my King James Bible.  I understood things about Jesus my brother, God my Father, but I could not figure out how a faith could utilize Casper, since the Holy Ghost would have been friendly, given his favorable mention in the Bible.

By the time I was in college, I had come into contact with people who were using a different language about the Holy Ghost and I began to get an understanding that the Spirit of the Lord was very present for many and that some people insisted it was a mark of salvation.  Even though I had been saved at age fifteen, I know I had received no such thing and was not overly sure I wanted to.  I may have left my ghostly images of the Spirit behind, but the Holy Spirit was given further bad press by being connect with snake-handling, being "slain" in the Spirit and speaking in tongues, all pretty weird stuff to a small town, conservative Methodist.

Yet, I also knew that on some level my Christian walk was shallow and lacking.  I was disturbed by my faith's acceptance of "backsliding" in light of verses about perfection (Matthew 5:48), maturity (Hebrews 6:1) and holiness (Romans 6:22).  While I know that relapse is part of alcohol and other drug recovery, but I don't accept "backsliding" - as it was discussed then - as part of the process of sanctification.  The inconsistencies abounded between the biblical "new creature," my church's teaching, and my experience that seemed to create huge issues of hypocrisy that were obvious. 

Just as obvious was that the Holy Spirit deserved more attention than I had given because the New Testament writers seemed dependent upon the Holy Spirit in their walk and witness in ways than I ever was or had been taught.  I was determined to get in touch with this Spirit.  Surely, the Christian walk had to be something better than the crazy yo-yo life that had become acceptable to too many and was leaving me feeling inadequate and insecure in the faith.

It was the writings of Catherine Marshall that I found myself face-to-face with the person of the Holy Spirit.  Somewhere in Catherine's description of her husband's ministry (US Senate chaplain, Peter Marshall) and his dependence upon the Spirit, the Holy Spirit leaped out and caught me.  It was like the Holy Spirit was saying, "I'm right here!  I'm right here!"  My eyes and heart were opened for the first time.  It was then that I, too, began to trust in "God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life." (from the Presbyterian confession)

Not everyone thinks the application or reception of the Holy Spirit is separate from becoming baptized or any initiating of the faith.  Maybe, it is when a newly formed faith becomes aware of the presence and possibility of life in the Spirit, that the relationship is claimed.  I just know this:  the Holy Spirit is a very present extension of Almighty God and my brother, Jesus.