I had a dream...

A few days ago, on a Saturday night (June 5), I had a dream. A dream that didn't feel like any of my typical dreams, that is, in the seldom cases I actually remember. It was cohesive, with a beginning and an end. No jumping around and sporadic tendencies. No, it was clear as can be. And to be quite frank, terrifying. It seemed more like a vision than a dream and so I share it with you...

I was walking the streets of a setting that seemed to be familiar. I had a good feeling it was New York City. I believe I was walking with a few people--perhaps members of my small group, jackpot--and all of a sudden a woman with the face of death approaches me and grabs my arm. She calls out my name and then proceeds to mutter in a language I cannot understand if my life depended on it. She sounds (and looks) crazy.

So I throw my arms to let go of her grasp, not too phased, knowing that New York City is full of crazies. But for some reason, at this point, she doesn't look like she merely lost her mind. It seems as though something has taken over her entire body. Her eyes seem empty, soulless. Just a skeleton, walking towards me, mumbling words that now seem demonic.

My heart is now beginning to beat at a rapid pace and as if that wasn't enough, I now see that there is a little girl to the left of her. With the same soulless eyes, piercing through mine. She has what seems to look like some sort of white powder spattered across her face. And she's silent. The woman next to her keeps mumbling. But now the mumbling seems to carry a quiet undertone of a cry for help, a cry to be saved. They both walk towards me as I am stumbling backwards, terrified. Not knowing what to do, I reach and grab the person closest to me and pull her in front. She happens to be my friend Julia. (Can I just pause here and just say how RELIEVED I was to have had her in my dream to come to my rescue. Thanks girl!)

In fear, I plead to her for us to run away, but she ignores my plead and stands still. As I plead again and again, trying to pull her away, she resists and stands firm. I have no idea why she's not listening to me or what it is that she's doing as they are approaching closer and closer to us. And all of a sudden the truth hits me (a truth that had already hit Julia moments before).

At the exact same time she stops resisting, I too stop pulling. It was then I realized that the love of Christ was at work. And as Julia and I stand firm, now praying in unison to our God for their rescue, the power and love of Christ shines through us into their soulless bodies, causing the woman to strike down to the ground. The girl remains standing. Julia is in tears of awe and surrender to our God and we both fall on our knees to worship the one who is worthy. The one who comes to love and save all who desperately need it. Jesus Christ <3

Pretty intense huh? Definitely an awesome ending though I must say! Now you can imagine, I awake from this dream at 4 AM, wondering what that was all about, too shaken up to go back to sleep. Now, I've had some time to think about it and examine what it is that I think God is trying to tell me through this powerful dream. The sermon the next day seemed to help in making sense of some of this...and as every day goes by, little things have popped up and have helped in unveiling and clarifying this more and more, but I am still trying to make full sense of it, being careful not to over-spiritualize. But here's what I think so far...

(to be continued...sorry will update in a bit as it is getting pretty darn late. please check back).