Why people like me shouldn't dream...

So I am going to add insult to injury by writing a long rambling post after all this time of sporadic posting. Further I shouldn’t even be writing this because I have other projects I am supposed to be working on, and this is not one of them, but I am writing it anyway.

I had a dream last night.

This was weird for several reasons.

1) I barely slept (and there is no good reason for that by the way, I went to bed at 9 and stared at the clock until 5:38). Somewhere I blinked and had this dream…
2) In my dreams everything is usually jumbled, names, faces and history don’t match and over half the people don’t exist or are characters from TV or some combination there of…
3) Everything was vivid, specific and I remember all of it…

Now I have a problem. The dream is following me. I keep seeing it, thinking about it, and I am really having trouble focusing on anything else…

Now I am sure you are all going “Alright already, what was it about… G rated version please!”

Well, first, there is no issue of rating.

The dream was about me going to drop something off at a church, where I worked with the youth and I found out they were leaving on a retreat and the speaker was this guy I only knew briefly a decade ago (he was a speaker at a retreat I organized for youth) and the rest of the dream was me running around trying to get to go… He was in the dream, right name, right face, right history. All very weird… The circumstances under which I knew him were very weird…

So when I got to school today I looked him up. And found him. And emailed him…

Subject: Kind of Out in left field, but... Hello
Hi,

This is going to be totally out of left field, I know, but...

Many years ago (less than a decade, but close enough to round in that direction) I was an Undergraduate/Graduate student at **, and for a short time, a youth minister in ************* . That summer ('98) you spoke at my BSU, I went to your college mission conference (that was running concurrent to a biker week!) and you were the guest speaker at a youth retreat I did. As I recall my amazing sense of direction and the ******* fog caused you to miss your flight, spend a whole day in an airport (waiting for a rescheduled flight) and nearly miss your last set of booster shots before your trip to Russia where you were an undercover missionary...

That was a long time ago. But it was a critical summer (and defining year) for me in the grand scheme of things... Not a lot of my finest moments, but...

Anyway, it isn't something I think about frequently anymore, like most I'm pretty busy with work (English Teacher), family, church/youth drama productions (writing, directing, producing), school drama productions, PhD applications, Grading Papers, volunteer work and the general bustle of holidays... Yet last night I had the strangest dream... You had come to speak to my youth group here in my area and you were yourself... right name, right face, right history (normally my dreams are much more jumbled and I rarely recognize anyone). Anyway, it was such an odd and vivid thing... I thought I'd look you up and see the trouble you were into now, just to say hi and wish you a Merry Christmas...

Congratulations on your PhD. My father finished his while I was in grad school and I hope to start mine Fall 2007 (last step to getting in next month) so I know what an accomplishment that is. You said all those years ago that this was your goal... Being a professor suits the man I met back then...

So, as I said, kind of out of nowhere, and most definitely odd, but thought I'd say "Hi!"

~Sandy

The weirder part is he remembered me, wrote back promptly and was very polite. He probably thinks I am nuts… I also sent a letter to my youth pastor at my church…

Hey, listen, I know (from some sources that will remain nameless) that you apparently have a bit of a heart for singles? Alliance definitely has a heart for missions and then of course we have the whole youth group thing...

What would you say to putting together a mission conference/rally for youth, college students, singles or some combination there of next year? Or maybe we could kill several birds with one (well several actually) stones...

This is going to sound a bit weird, but I had a dream last night... this is impressive because 1) I got little sleep for no good reason and 2) I don't usually have such memorable and vivid dreams where everyone has the right name, face and history...

It was about a conference, with young people and a particular speaker I know (and e-mailed this morning and who remembers me... but more on that later) and it was all really strange and I can't seem to let it go as I move about my day this morning. I've been trying to write as my kids work and I just keep seeing the dream play over and over in my head... isn't that weird?
The speaker's name is ***** *****.... (Look him up online... there are even some of his sermons) I knew him a decade ago when he was still in graduate school at ***** *****... Now he is a professor, Christian Philosopher (not the scary kind) and evangelist... The real deal... He was a speaker at a retreat I did as a youth minister all those years ago... Why he came to mind in all of this I have no idea...

Anyway, I even know who we can get to do the music (to supplement, amp up what we can do ourselves) and here is the important part, with this weight on my chest, I know where some funding could come from...

Obviously we are all tremendously busy and this would be a not small project, and now (X-mas 2006) is not the best time, but I needed to tell you about this... I think God is laying it on my heart... It happens sometimes... It makes me hyper and so far, it's always been good stuff when I pay attention and get proactive... Maybe it's this whole examining what happens when we put off God's call? Who knows?

So there.

I told you.

~Sandy

I think I might be losing my mind. Serves me right for trying to sleep when I have a play to write and so much work to do…

Maybe I don’t even really make sense at all?

Hopefully, I’m at least amusing for y’all’s sake.