I had a dream. No, really, I had a dream. It was Tuesday night. I've been sick this past week and taking various cold remedies, but I hadn't taken anything that night to account for it. In the dream, God was trying to tell me something, sorta.

Now wait a second. I am not a big believer in God reaching down and speaking to us through dreams. I know he did it to many bible characters, including but not limited to Jews, Romans, wise men, women, fathers, mothers. and so on. But I firmly believe God speaks to us today through his word, not via some mysterious means.

Even so, it was a dream with a meaning and I'm going to tell you about it today because it's a good message. In my dream, I was in some town in Ohio, Salem to be exact. Salem is about 10 minutes drive north of Lisbon, where I grew up. Ok, so far so good. I'm dreaming about places that I spent a very significant portion of my life, and I happen to dream of them fairly often. In this particular dream, two people who used to be members of the church are with me, a husband and a wife. We'll call them John and Jane, just for fun.

John is busy and is going to catch up with us later, but some kind of festival is going on in Lisbon and Jane is anxious to go. They aren't from the area, so I offer to walk to Lisbon with her. Now, somehow in my dream we walk this 10 minute car ride in about 10 minutes, so you can see we must have been walking pretty fast! This is also one fine summer day, so the weather is dandy and there's a cool breeze. Lots of people are walking the roads with us, so it's a safe, relaxing walk.

Lisbon and Salem are located in the north east comer of Ohio, a very hilly area. Actually, the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Salem is kind of on a hill, or at least a high spot. Lisbon is down in a valley. So as we walk along, going up and down hills, I remark to Jane that our stroll is a lot like living our lives. There are ups and downs (even in my dreams I am bending the ears of those with me to see how everything works out to be a bulletin!!!) and we can relate that with how close we are to God. When we're up, we're closer to the "Son" and the light shines on us. When we're down, the shadows overtake us and we feel the chill. If we are always climbing, we will be ever closer to God's presence. Eventually we arrive in Lisbon, which as I said is pretty much down in a hole of a valley.

Here's the interesting part. John catches up with us. Jane tells him about what I had been telling her along the way (see, for people to listen to me I must be dreaming!) and concludes that if I was right we're "lost" because between the two towns Lisbon itself is the lowest point along the road. John sees the monument of a horse in the town square (actually Lisbon has a civil war cannon, but hey in my dream it had a horse) and promptly decides to climb up it. Ya know how at the end of a summer day the sun is slanting in and it lights high points up with a bright golden glow? There's John shining up there, while all around everyone else is in shadow. I climb up there with him, and offer to help Jane come up too. But no, she won't come. She's afraid to climb up and is more comfortable down there on the ground.

John says "That's how it is. Even when life is darkest, there's a way to be in the light if we are only not afraid to reach for it!" and then I wake up. Pretty interesting, huh? Now when people ask me where in the world I "dream up" these bulletins, I can say "As a matter of fact..."

Randy