We had to end yesterday’s blog prematurely, so before we proceed, let’s rewind a bit to bring you up to speed.
Jucinda had just been formerly introduced to her roommate
Charli’s co-worker Bart. Though they
pretended not to know each other it was evident that they did based on the
funky vibes they were giving off. Bart’s
funk smelled like sour milk and Jucinda’s funk smelled like fishy blood. There was no time to address the awkward
moments they all just experienced so they each went their separate ways. We ended with Bart receiving a phone call
from his friend Ian who needed to talk with them. Let’s pick it up there:
Bart had worried himself so much that his tension headache which
started at the base of his neck had worked its way up his entire head settling
behind his eye sockets. His head hurt so
bad that the bright, hot southern summer sun demanded that he wear his
sunglasses. By the time he arrived at
Starbucks, he was dehydrated and nauseated.
When he saw Ian who is usually late, already seated at a table in the
corner with a venti ice water and Bart’s favorite, caramel macchiato with two
shots of hazelnut and extra whip, you could’ve bought him with a wooden
nickel. He thought to himself “this must
be really important”. He gave Ian a man
hug and then flopped down in the overstuffed chair, took a sip of the ice water,
popped a couple of Advil, put his head back on the chair and then closed his
eyes. Without saying a word to his
friend, Ian knew that Bart was stressed out, he could hear him screaming though
he hadn’t even opened his mouth, not even to utter his favorite greeting: “Wassup”.
It’s not even a real word but he says it with such power and conviction
that it literally stops people in their tracks because they can hear what he
isn’t saying which is “What’s going on? I’m asking because I care.” Neither of them were in a hurry and even
though it was an impromptu meeting, they both knew instinctively this was going
to be a male venting session, so Ian sat in silence and prayed as his friend
got his bearings. After about 7 minutes this scripture popped in
Ian’s mind: And the Holy Spirit helps us in our
weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the
Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning’s that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26 (NLT). As if on queue, Bart
opened his mouth and said: “wassup
brotha?” Instinctively Ian knew it was
time and he began their conversation with his dream:
“ I had a dream that you were a soldier in a desert, like
Afghanistan or something. You and the other soldiers were fighting and defeating the
enemy, but at some point you got separated from the rest of the soldiers and
your weapons were gone. It almost seemed
as if you were lost. You weren’t afraid
but you were starting to get concerned because it was getting dark. As the sun began to set you got frustrated
because you were tired, hungry and thirsty but mostly because you could hear
them calling your name, but they couldn’t hear or find you. You found your way to a village, but you
weren’t sure if they were friendlies so you waited and watched from the outside
of the village with your binoculars.
From the distance it appeared safe and you started to approach. A man saw you and greeted you. He spoke broken English and used hand
gestures to communicate with you and he convinced you to come to some kind of
large building, I wasn’t sure if it was his house, a small hotel or what but
there was some type of party going on.
You were apprehensive and on guard the whole time you were there because
you didn’t know if it was a set up, but the guy that spoke broken English kept
assuring you that ‘everything was ok’. When I woke up the next morning I
thought I was trippin’ so I dismissed it but when I went back to sleep that
night, the dream picked up where it left off like it was a movie. And this is where it started:
You were at the military base. No one asked you where you were, they just
went along like everything was normal, which was weird to you. With each day you thought more about the
party wondering if it was still going on and for some strange reason you wanted
to return but you didn’t know why. The
next thing I remembered was that you and several others had R&R (rest and
recreation) passes and instead of going with everyone else like normal, you
somehow ended up at the party. You were
still on edge about being there but you ignored your internal warning system
because everyone treated you so well, like you were someone special and you had
never experienced that before. Then I
woke up. I knew this wasn’t a random
dream so I felt led to fast and pray about it, but I didn’t get an answer from
God, just his peace, which let me know I needed to wait for the answer. When I went to sleep last night the dream
continued.
I saw you sneak away from the military base to return to the
party that never seemed to end. Every
time you went back you picked up more of their culture (clothing, language,
protocol, etc.). It was like you were a
dope fiend chasing a high but I never saw you taking any substances in the
dream, but last night you seemed to be high off something and then I woke up
with this heaviness on me man. I can
feel that something is wrong, like there’s a seducing spirit that has found an
opening and is controlling a specific area in your life. Without asking I already know this makes
sense to you so Imma ask you ‘Wassup, man?’”
Bart listened to Ian “read his mail” and imagined how King
David felt when his sin was exposed by the Prophet Nathan who “read the King’s
mail”: You did it secretly, but I will make this
happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.” 2 Samuel 12 (NLT).
Ironically, while Ian and Bart were “reading mail”, Charli
and Jucinda were just starting their “mail reading process” except it wasn’t as
calm in their environment as it was for Ian and Bart, probably because they were
at home instead of a public space.
I am out of time, we will have to pick it back up tomorrow.
In His Excellent Service
Tania not Tanya
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