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. Now meeting me in person he realized I was the one with the answer.  My book, Patience of the Saints, addresses it directly. (See link for free download on home page.)

Events Foreseen 

I grew up with a friend.  As adults, we were 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). 

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.