A Dream. Just that.

I had a dream. Right off the bat I need to say two things:
It was one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had: I saw faces I knew, I was saying names of specific people I knew, colors, sounds, emotions. All were there in full effect. I don't think my wife was in the room with me at the time, I slept late this morning fighting the last of a cold, and she was up shredding Christmas decorations. But as such, I can't ask if I was talking in my sleep, but I suspect I probably was.

The other thing I need to say right off is that I took Nyquil last night before going to bed (early) so it could very well be nothing more than the lingering effects of that. I don't want to give credit where it is not due, so I am trying to be up front about that.

The dream was amazingly vivid, and if I tried to write it all out with conversations and so forth it could take me hours. I will most likely do that for my own journal (you folks didn't thing you get to read ALL my inner-most thoughts now, did you?), but for the purpose of this blog, let me just get to one point. Before I do, I want you to know that I had all the names, dates, places and people as clear as if I was looking at a photo, or in some cases as if I was standing there speaking with the people involved. And they all had one thing in common - they had all once attended the church I now serve, but have all gone on for one reason or another. Some because of job transfers, others have gone into hiding - that is, they show up Sundays but are just spectators now - and most had gotten offended at something and left in a huff over the years. Be assured, I am not going to name names here in this blog, and I really don't want to give any clues to try to help you guess identities. And also be aware: I carry a burden for these people still. Some I pray for personally, others I pray for their child or children.

The bottom line is this - we were in Las Vegas on some sort of youth choir tour. During a concert some of the young people had an experience with God. We decided to stay around after the local hosts: the church people, had all gone home and pray as a group. During that time of intense prayer, one of our young people died. He did not just drop dead, as the medics and first-responders were saying - his life was ended by the Spirit of God. We all knew it. That may sound like the ramblings of a strange person, and some of you may be re-thinking your desire to read future blogs or notes from me. Fine. This is not about me.

In the events that followed, we bumped into some other people who did not know about what had happened. They 'just happened' to be in town, and were offended when we did not laugh and dance with them. But finally we told them why we were all so sad and upset. It caused them to repent on the spot of some bad things they had allowed into their lives.

There were so many more vivid images, so many conversations that I am almost shaking as I try to type. I don't want these images, but I have this feeling that this was some sort of message. For who? Well, fist for me. Then? I don't know. Don't look for a punch-line at the bottom, this is not a joke. I am going to cut it off at that.

In discussing this with my wife just a short time ago she mentioned that there were times in the Bible were the Spirit of God ended a person's life. Old testament and New Testament, there was a common theme. The person involved had sin or sin issues in their life. I am going to launch a study into this later, but I also have some recollections of Bible stories about whole groups, families, tribes, even nations which God removed from the face of the earth. Some because of wrong living, others because of personal sin, still others because they introduced sin into the rest of the people.

So what am I saying? Keep it simple. I had a dream. That's all I am saying. What is God saying? I don't know about you, but I get the feeling that there are some things in my life which need to be cleaned out. And God takes that very seriously.