rhymes with rhododendron

A Recurring Nightmare plagued my youth.  A wall of destruction, like the shock wave from an atomic explosion, is headed straight toward me.  Just before it engulfs me, I awaken.  Then one day, in my early twenties, a friend surprised me with the question:  Do you ever wonder if there's some sort of purpose for your life? Suddenly I remembered, the last time I had that dream, it was an extended version.  Rather than waking up, I fly into the sky and view the destruction from above. People below are succumbing to the ugly brown wave, as it crawls across the face of our planet. Moved with pity, I swoop back down, grab one in each arm, and bring them with me to the safety above.  They look at me with astonishment, but I assure them that this flying is an ability they too can possess.  Our arms slowly stretch out until they only touch at the fingertips, and the three of us swoop down for the next rescue (multiplying exponentially).

He Saw Me in a Dream. Eric was a coworker who had just moved to Nashville from Washington State. "This may sound strange," he said, "But I saw you in a dream when I was living out west."  It was an apocalyptic scene in which I was asking him how to be ready for Christ's return. To his distress, Eric had no satisfactory answer. After meeting me in person he realized I was the one with the answer.  My book, Patience of the Saints, addresses it directly. (Click on the link above, for a free read.). Eric and I have since become very close friends. 

Future Memories. More and more, I encounter people who feel that they know me from somewhere, though in fact we've never met before. It's like a memory, not of the past, but of the future. God knows that we are kindred spirits and arranges a meeting. I recognize these as divine appointments and quickly bring the discussion to matters of the eternal, since it is from there that our intertwined destinies originate. The sense of fellowship is deep and almost immediate. Increasingly, as we near the return of Christ, those who wish to prepare are being drawn to each other for encouragement.

Events Foreseen 

I have a childhood friend.  As adults, we are thousands of miles apart, but still very close. One night, I heard him cry for help. It woke me from my sleep, and I prayed for his safety. Calling him afterward, I learned that he'd been at a bar that night, blacked out, and awoke in a ditch with one shoe and his cell phone missing. The whole thing was highly out of order for him. He was on a business trip and not a lush. We think he might have been drugged.  On another occasion, I dreamt that his (first) wife was hovering over him, uttering oppressive words. I called and learned that their marriage was on the rocks (of which I had no idea, before). 

More recently, I was climbing on some large insulated pipes (I work in construction) to access a high area behind them. Suddenly I recognized it as the scene I'd dreamt about while very young. The multi-level garage, from this same job, was also in the dream. It's sloping cement floor, I could only compare to a massive playground slide. Growing up in a small rural community, I hadn't seen anything like these images. They were very curious to me and I never forgot them. Now that they have appeared in reality, I wonder what is the significance. I only know that it feels as though my life is on track; that God has my number and has known where my life would end up, from the beginning.

Miraculous Healing.  Some time in 2021, I was developed persistent pain in my groin. The doctor I visited gave me no definitive answers.  After weeks of a growing discomfort, I prayed "God, I can't continue to function like this. Either heal me or let me die, because this middle ground is untenable."  A few days later, I had a dream. I was facing death, in the form of enemy troops that surrounded me. I cried to God for mercy. Then I felt a vibration in that part of my anatomy. The next morning and ever since, the pain is gone.