Before I start, it's important for me to express that for a very long time, ten years in fact, I did not obey this charge. Until very recently, I ran away from it and pretended I didn't understand what it meant. I tried to be popular by pretending that the many truths that have been entrusted to me were somehow not ever meant for me to speak out loud. I know that is sinful now, and disobedient. I seek to walk in his paths. I seek to obey his will. I believe that all things happen in his time, not mine, but I wonder if I might not have pulled one more person into the lifeboat before the waters overwhelmed them. I can only hope that I have the chance to pull one more. Each day, Father, put one more before me. Amen.
First, I was sleeping. I had not been asleep long. I was awakened quite suddenly by what sounded like a shotgun going off very nearby. I startled awake, then went to check on my husband, who was still awake. He said there had been no noise, and looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Feeling like he probably had a point, I turned and went back to bed.
I fell back to sleep almost immediately, which was strange since my heartbeat was still racing.
I began dreaming that I was walking along a dirt road. There are many such roads in Oregon, but I knew that I was not in Oregon, somehow, but in Isreal. The road was dry and the dirt was brown. The sun felt hot on my skin, and the wind was blowing slightly. I could smell the grass and the smell of the dirt. I was looking at my bare and dirty feet.
To my right, I could see a hand come into my line of sight. The hand was spreading seed onto the field where we were passing. As he spread the seed, he began speaking the parable of the sower. For those of you who don't know it, I've included it here, along with the explanation in the word. This can be found in Matthew 13, and you can read the whole passage here at my favorite Bible site:
Matthew 13: Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13
Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
13 That same day, Yeshua went out of the house and sat down by the lake; 2 but such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there while the crowd stood on the shore. 3 He told them many things in parables:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; 6 but when the sun had risen, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown. 9 Those who have ears, let them hear!”***and then the explanation***
18 “So listen to what the parable of the sower means. 19 Whoever hears the message about the Kingdom, but doesn’t understand it, is like the seed sown along the path — the Evil One comes and seizes what was sown in his heart. 20 The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who hears the message and accepts it with joy at once, 21 but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a while; but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, he immediately falls away. 22 Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it produces nothing. 23 However, what was sown on rich soil is the one who hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
In my dream, this entire first part of the passage was spoken to me, and the words came to life. The seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it. The seed sown on the rocks came up and then withered to brown in the sun. The seed fell among the swords and grew, but was choked up. But the seed which fell on the field nearby us sprung up immediately and began to grow robustly.
We turned together, and began walking through the rows of the field next to the road, where workers were performing the task of harvesting the now grown grain. As we walked, I could see the blue sky, and the brown barley, and the people straining with their tools to harvest the grain. As we walked, my companion, who I still could not see, was describing how the grain was planted in the winter, and lay dormant until spring, when it came to life to announce the new year of abib (ripe) barley.
We approached a shack; Oregon retirement home style. The wood was weathered and worn to grey, and the bottom had developed cracks that let in the wind. We went into the shack, and I could now see my companion.
He was tall of darkish skin, but almost no hair. He wore a pair of blue bib overalls and nothing else. His shoulders and arms were strong, and his eyes were an amazing color of blue. He was beautiful in a plain sort of way. He held a pitchfork and began describing the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. A wind began blowing through the cracks of the shack, pushing hot air through the shack. He threw the wheat stalks into the air again and again, and the chaff blew off while the grain fell to the winnowing floor. He talked the entire time, telling me how the process separated the good grain from the useless chaff.
Suddenly the wind turned cold and the day dark. My vision narrowed on one of the cracks along the floor. A green snake with red stripes and a red tongue slid in under the crack and began moving along the grain, scoring the neat piles of grain with his twisty body. My sight went back to my companion. He spun the fork in his hands expertly, and then jabbed it into the body of the snake. Then he lifted it before me, and held out the writhing animal on the fork before me. I was captured by his eyes. I couldn't look away from him or the snake.
In a clear voice he said to me, "There's evil in the seed. You must get the evil out of the seed."
For one instant, I felt the pain of the snake at the end of the fork. Then it was gone, and I was awake.
I had that dream in 2000, shortly after marrying my second husband. I told him about it at the time, and he seemed like he was a little angry about it, so I never brought it up again. I never told anyone again until I remarried. I have told my husband about it now.
I know that the evil are the many lies being perpetuated on the body of Christ, the people that are his children, the church. I know that it's my charge, per this dream, to reveal those lies, and to help people find their way to the truth. I know that by the sheer fact that I talk about things no one wants to think about, that I will never be popular, and that I was not called to fit in, but to be a peculiar person. I think I got that part covered.
Thanks for reading.
Shalom.
