Dreams in a Bottle

10/30/06

2006-10-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

1) I'm in a nice restaurant, an expensive steakhouse. I'm not married and I'm standing in the front looking in at all the people eating. A tall, handsome man in his 50's, stylish gray hair approaches me and encourages me to go introduce myself and join a young lady sitting alone at a table. I recognize her as Sarah from our main office. I get the sense that's she's not married either because it doesn't feel improper to approach her. I go over to the table and start talking to her and eventually we start having dinner together and getting along. She's friendly, innocent, naive, sweet, charming. At one point the gray hair guy joins us briefly.

After dinner I go to pay the check. I walk down a hallway to an outside courtyard to the checkstand and nobody is there. I wait a minute or two and nobody shows up. So I try to run my credit card myself to pay for the meal. It's well over $100 because I'm paying for all three of us. But my card won't go thru, it's over the limit. I'm kind of paniced because I don't know what to do. I'm supposed to pay but my card won't go thru. I kind of pray "Oh God! What am I going to do?".

Suddenly up in the sky to my right is a figure, it's a policeman looking down at me with his arms crossed as if to say "A mighty fine mess you're in!". I realize that this "policeman" is God. I tell the policeman that I'm out of money and I need help and ask him if he'll take care of the bill. He lectures me for a minute but then says he'll help me. He starts to come down out of the sky.

When God reaches me though we're not in a courtyard now, we're on a sidewalk and people are walking by the checkstand. He's not a policeman now, he's a tall, stocky, black man in his late 40's , early 50's and he's wearing a tan casual jacket, red plaid shirt. He's kind. He speaks some words of comfort to me and sets me at ease. He tells me to lay down on the ground behind the counter. He wants me to lay face down on the ground, in supplication to him. I do what he says and he touches me and I feel a great annointing and blessing coming from him.

Then I'm trying to get back to the restaurant to find Sarah. The restaurant is in a large mall. I get lost trying to find the restaurant. But after awhile I find it but Sarah is gone. Then I notice some things left behind by the gray haired guy that I recognize are his. They're in a locker of some sort. Some shoes, clothing, a hat, and a baseball glove. I then realize that the gray haired guy was God too. I consider taking his stuff because I figure he doesn't need them because he's gone and won't be coming back. The shoes are too big for me so I decide to leave them. Then I just leave everything because I figure it's probably bad manners to take his stuff. Like taking money off a corpse or something.

2) Then I'm in an SUV parked on the side of a hill. I'm boxed in somehow and get out to figure out how to back up and get out so that I don't hit whatever it is that is boxing me in. I look around and I'm on a hill near the sea. The hill is very steep in some places and rolling in others. Scattered all over the hills as far as i could see are all sorts of kids toys and household stuff. Bikes, scooters, Big Wheels, washers, dryers, sinks, etc.... It's almost as if a tornado had dumped all it's contents all over the hills.

3) I'm in a small church with three or four other people. Dez and Juanita are there. It feels like a prayer meeting. I'm praying at the altar and remember to lay face down like God had taught me. When I do I feel annointing and blessing again. Juanita comes over because she's interested in what's happening. Then I go outside to my Mercedes and it's packed with all kinds of stuff like I'm taking a trip.

Then Dez and I are in a car and she's driving. I'm not married and neither is she. It seems like we're attracted to each other and at one point I hold her hand briefly. We get to a place where she works and I hang out with her. The place seems to be a seaside resort and she works behind a counter outside. I'm not sure exactly what she does but I see beach chairs and stuff and a lady lounging on a lounge chair about 50 yards away. There are boardwalks too. But the weather doesn't seem to be very nice and so there are very many people. Dez and I sit and talk and it seems like we're hitting it off rather well. At one point I touch her face and her hair and she doesn't seem to mind. It seems like it's time to close up and she's gathering fold up beach chairs to put away. I see the tide coming in and so I try to help out.

Then a young guy shows up. I don't know him but Dez does. He's thin, dressed in a black top and jeans. He has dark hair and olive complexion. Maybe Italian, Portuguese, Spanish or Arab. They walk off together and talk. Through some sort of intercom system that she accidentally left on I overhear them talking about me. They're trying to figure out how to get rid of me. I'm startled. Evidently she and him are dating and she doesn't like me and wants me to leave. I'm very embarrassed and confused so I just leave and try to get away.

I walk up a hill and see my Mercedes parked next to a building. I go over to it and try to get in. But then I realize the Mercedes is attached to the building. The right half of it is exposed and looks like the car, but the left half is incorporated into the building and the inside is part of what appears to be some sort of doctor's office. I don't know what to do.

So I go back outside and I see Dez driving by in her car. All her girls are little, under 7-8, and are looking at me out their window. Dez doesn't see me. I'm still pretty embarrassed but I figure she's my only hope because the lady in the car behind is somebody I don't recognize. She's driving very slowly up the narrow road up the hill so I call out to her and run to try to flag her down to get a ride.

10/27/6

2006-10-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

1) I'm sitting in a restaurant eating dinner with my grandma that I really don't like. She gets on everybody's nerves and nobody really likes hanging out with her. We seem to be having a good time in spite of all that and she excuses herself to go to the restroom. While she's gone I start reading something at the table. I read something that startles me and I say "Holy shit!", but not real loud, just kind of to myself. She was approaching the table when I said that and got all upset and asked me what I said. "Did you say that or were you just reading it?" she wanted to know. I said it. She went ballastic and started getting kind of loud saying that she couldn't BELIEVE that I'd said THAT word. I kept trying to get her to keep it down because people were looking at us. I felt she was overreacting. Finally she calmed down. As we were leaving I went over to the closest table to ours to apologize for her outburst. They were nice people and seemed to understand.

2) I'm in a very large office room, kind of like a large bank. High ceilings, expansive area with lots of desks arranged in rows. I'm in the corner talking to a man and a woman. I'm their new boss and we work at the company I work at now. I'm telling the lady about some of the stuff that's coming down the road in the next few months, kind of an FYI briefing. The man seems to understand more about it than I do and kind of takes over the discussion. At one point a lady from a cross the room at a desk calls out his name. I don't remember what it is. He smiles and waves at her conspiratorially. She seems to be his former boss and now he's working for me.

I go over to my desk. It's an old metal desk, similar to the one I'm currently using at work. It's just been moved to this space and I'm putting my stuff inside and making it comfortable for me. In the process I notice an envelope taped the underside of the top of the desk. I look under there and find several envelopes taped there. I open them up and they're the title for a vehicle, the deed to a property, and some other legal documents. Looking them over I gather they came from the previous owner of the desk, a nun. A couple of the documents had some English and some Chinese writing on them.

I feel it's important to get them to the right people because for some reason I know that this nun had a large ministry and had recently died and her estate would need these documents to process the estate correctly according to her wishes. If they didn't have these docs then the estate would be ripped off by somebody.

So I gather the documents and try to take them back. I really have no idea where I was trying to go but at one point I enter, exit and re-enter a building that is a large brick building, old, kind of Eurpoean looking. Inside the building it seems like it was a bazaar type atomosphere. As I'm leaving the building for the second time I notice a man trying to approach me. I can tell he means me harm, althought I don't recognize him. He's young, late 20's maybe. He has a large glass globe that he throws at me. Somehow I understand that if the globe breaks it'll set of some sort of chemical reaction that if sparked with explode into a fireball. I try to run away and get several yards away before he can spark the explosion after the ball broke. He kicks a large piece of the glass over to me and tries to spark the whole thing. I kick it back toward him as he's raising his arms over his head to strick a match or light a Zippo and another man lunges at him to try to stop him. The attacker man seems alarmed that I've kicked the glass back at him because he knows he's failed.

I still have the documents and I get away from that scene. I'm not sure how it ended up but I must have been successful because the next thing I remember I'm in an apartment with another person and I'm cleaning up and relaxing. A man lets himself in my apartment and I feel like he's my boss but he acts like a case officer and treats me like some sort of undercover operative. He says something like "Man, that was close!" and I agree and say something like "Well, at least we got the job done".

3) I'm in a town kind of like Las Vegas but not as big and glitzy. Maybe it's Vegas back in the day. I'm with my wife and another couple, the guy is a guy I know named John Barragan. We're looking for a place, I think it's a restaurant. The name starts with a W. Wagon, wheel...something. I can't remember for sure. We've been told that it's at the end of the strip, near the edge of town. But we can't find it. We go into a large casino/hotel and we're asking around and nobody can really give us clear directions. We look for a tourists map and can't find one. Somebody suggests that we eat there and forget about the other place. But Johh and I feel it's important that we go to this other place. I suggest that he go outside to ask somebody where it is and he heads toward the front doors of the lobby.

10/26/06

2006-10-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

I'm the new manager of a large produce department at a large supermarket. I've never been a produce manager before but I'm gung ho to give it my best shot. I figure that with good product and good presentation we shouldn't have a problem because the store is so big we can attract alot of buyers.

The department consists of a very long deli type counter that is basically all but empty. It's not used for deli any more and just has some displays inside the glass cases. The produce is scattered here and there on some tables and display bins scattered around the floor in front of and on the ends of the long deli case.

My lone employee is a guy I knew from Bible school, Ben Pruett. He seems happy to see me but not really all that enthusiastic about showing any initiatve and getting the job done.

The whole display is in a state of neglect. Bins are empty, some barely have anything in them. Fruits and veggies are mixed together in the displays. Alot of the produce seems old and out of date. It's difficult for the shoppers to find stuff and I personally don't even recognize some of the produce. I can't tell of some of them are fruits or vegetables. Some of them are very strange looking to me but they look fresh and ripe. Some of them are very large, like a large pumpkin or watermelon size.

I grab some produce from the back cooler area and bring it out front and start arranging it in the displays. Ben starts to clean the deli counter, it's very dusty. I go back and forth bringing more stuff out to the front to fill in the empty displays. But several times I pick up cases of produce in the back and it's all rotten. I remember grabbing a back of oranges and they stank and had green mold on them all the way to the bottom of the box. Same with a box of lemons. One box of bananas had bunches of bananas that were all shriveled down the the size of french fries. It seemed that I tried and tried to fill up the cases but I never got completely done.

Evidently the fish and poultry were right next to the produce and I remember at a guy reaching into a tank and pulling out a large lobster and pinching it w/some sort of tool and something squirting all over his face. He laughed and acted like he was trying to teach me how to do it. I remember thinking there was no way in hell I was going to stick my hand into a tank of water where critters had claws. I went back to the produce department and kept doing my thing but I kept finding some fruit that was good and other fruit that was bad and it was somewhat frustrating.

10/24/6

2006-10-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

1) I'm in a clearing of sorts. To my left is a tall structure on stilts. To my right is a stairway leading to I have no idea where. On the stairway are my Mom and Dad and siblings and my wife and kids. They're waving at me to join them on the stairway but I feel compelled to go to the structure on my left. I insist they come with me to go inside the structure and they agree and join me at base of the stairway on the structure.

The structure is made of dark wood and has a very wide staircase that winds it's way around the outside to the large space at the top. It's on stilts and there are no rooms on the bottom, only one large room at the top. Kind of like an oversized hunting blind or a air traffic control tower. Probably more like hunting blind since it's made of wood and dark.

The stairs are made of stone and the hand rails are a gray steel and look very contemporary. We climb the stairway and get to the main room on top. Just before we go inside is an outdoor cafe on the balcony overlooking the field below.

We enter the main room and it's enclosed in glass on two sides. The room is very large. About 75 ft long and 40 ft wide. As I look out the window to the right i see all sorts of military aircraft. Some are new, some are vintage WWII. They're all parked on the tarmac very close together and they all appear to brand new. I think it's really cool and try to get my Dad to look at them but he ignores me.

He's looking down to the other end of the room where there are several old men sitting and talking in a sitting area. Nearby is another man using a remote control to operate some RC toys. My son runs down there to check it out and we follow him down there.

The man is older, maybe in his 50's and doesn't look at us or speak to us. It's obvious he is an expert at the RC toys as he's able to manipulate the controls to make them door crazy stuff. One of the RC toys is a actually not a vehicle, it's a company of soldiers that he's able to march around in parade fashion in complete unison. I'm impressed. Then he has a chauferred car of some sort that pulls up to a building. He's operating both the car and the building and opens and closes doors on the car and the building as if simulating someone being dropped off at the building and then going inside. I thought that was pretty cool.

Then the man hands the remote control to my 9 yr old son. My son starts to play with it but I stop him because I don't want him to break it. He's a little exasperated and my Dad tells me it's ok to let him play w/it because the controller has slide pot controls like on a sound board and is easy to work. I reluctantly let him do it.

For some reason I sense that this place is British and that all the people here are British. I look back down to the other end of the room and it's filled with all sorts of cool looking war memorabilia, large scale model airplaness, cars and such. They're all lined up in rows across the room. I notice one old Bentley and then on closer inspection realize that it's not a model car but a flower pot that looks like a Bentley and I think it's pretty cool.

2) I'm in a river and on some sort of water rec toy behind a boat. In the boat are friends of mine but I can't remember who. Their boat is a flat bottom boat with an outboard and a square front end. Kind of like a swamp boat. I'm attached to them by a ski rope. Behind me is another guy that I sense is a friend. He's attached to me with a rope. My back is to the boat and I'm facing my friend. He's trying to get his salom ski on but it's obvious he doesn't know what he's doing. He looks at me sheepishly and says he doesn't know what he's doing. The rope between us is very slack. Suddenly I hear the boat roar and feel myself being pulled out of the water on top of my water rec thing, I'm not even sure what it is. Then I'm worried because when the rope between me and my friend runs out he's going to be jerked real hard. I remember being surprised too at the power of the motor on the boat. It's alot more powerful than I would have thought. Somehow my friend is pulled out of the water and instead of standing up on the ski he is sitting on it. I have no idea how he's doing that. I get the idea that I ought to swing him out and slingshot him underneath me. I do that he shoots with great speed toward the boat and is having a blast. He's seems grateful that I've helped him have fun instead of wrecking. The boat stops up ahead and I'm behind them about 50 yards away in the water.

10/21/06

2006-10-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

I've not been remembering my dreams the last few days even though I try. I guess I'm just too tire and sleeping too deeply.

However, last night I did remember something very clearly. So clearly in fact that I felt it was important to remember. I don't remember anything else I dreamed but this one snippet.

My friend Rustin and I are casting lots to determine God's path regarding our church. I very clearly see a large white warehouse building that I feel is ours to use. We're casting the lots and then I see the corner of a large white warehouse building. That's it.

I'm going to be looking for this building as I drive around our town.

Interestingly enough, one of the girls I saw in the photos on the bulletin board in the last dream I posted. I actually saw this girl at a party on Saturday. If it wasn't her it was someone that looked uncanningly similar. I talked to her to see if anything spiritual would come of it but nothing unusual happened, just chit chat. It was weird to actually see someone after you'd dreamed about them. The only difference is that she had brown hair, not blonde.

10/16/06

2006-10-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

I've not been remembering my dreams the last three or four days. Been staying up too late and sleeping too soundly. A couple of times I woke up and said that I had to try to remember something I'd dreamed but by the time I woke up for good it was gone from my STM.

Here's one I dreamed last weekend that I do remember. I keep thinking about it so I think maybe it means something. But I'm not sure what. It's similar to a couple of others I've had as it involves an empty or partially empty old house. This time I actually dreamed it more than once this same night. It wasn't exactly the same both times but very, very similar.

****************

I'm in a very large, old, wooden house that has seen better days. I reminds me of "The Mansion" we used as an off-campus dormitory in Bible school. I stayed there for a couple months before I got married. It's a very large house with lots and lots of rooms. I don't remember seeing the outside specifically but for some reason I know it's old wood lapsiding with peeling white paint. It was once a beautiful home in its day but way beyond beauty at this point. Inside I'm going through the rooms and I get the impression that the former inhabitants had just left and in a big hurry. Most of the stuff is gone but some stuff is still there. At one point I'm looking at a large scrapbook at pictures and mementos from previous boarders. They are all young men and they all seem happy. I get the impression that they're recovering and/or running from something. As if they're immigrants from another place and this was a safehouse or something for them. There is a guestbook portion where they all signed their names and it's filled with names. Lots of them begin with R. The name Rhiaad sticks out. I remember that in a couple of the photos the guys were smiling really big and they had no shirts on. I get the impression that this place was a good place for them and they're really grateful for whatever it was they got from this place. I get the impression that somehow they all had to leave in a hurry and that somehow I might be able to help them. I don't know the specifics of what that means but that's what I'm feeling as I look around and look at the scrapbook.

Anyway, as I go thru the house I have the sense that somebody is trailing along behind me. I don't remember who it was. I get to a doorway and as I enter the room and close it I notice that on the wall behind the door is a corkboard bulletin board full of snapshot photos. The photos are primarily of two blonde girls that seem very happy. At first I think maybe they're sisters or best friends but then decide they're not. Lots of candid shots of them hugging each other and hamming for the camera like girls do. They're in the early to mid 20's. Directly below the photos is a shelf contraption made of wood. The kind that accordions open and shut. It has candles and lotions on it. The place I'm in is a little atrium type area and directly ahead is the doorway to a bathroom, kind of like in a hotel. I enter into the main space and it's dark but there's some light coming from the left. I glance to my right and I see two people lying in the bed. One figure is covered by the blankets and most obscured. But I get the sense that it's a man. The second figure is also a man and he's naked and lying his back. I don't see either of the faces. I suddenly and embarrassed and have an OMG!! reaction because I've barged in on their privacy. I'm not shocked by their intimacy, I'm just mortified that I've stumbled into their bedroom while they're sleeping. Before they react or notice that I"m there I wake up because I'm so embarrassed.

The previous time I'd dreamed this the same night I remember it possibly being two girls sleeping together.

10/12/06

2006-10-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm in an auditorium, like a convention center. It feels contemporary, European in the architecture and decor. I'm on the main floor to the far right of the stage and I can see that it's a UPC meeting but with lots of black people. There are probably 3000-4000 people there. Kind of like when I was growing up. The I'm standing on the stage and a hole opens up in the air, kind of like a portal, and I see a young, thin, pregnant black girl with earrings and a jeans skirt and red striped top leading songs in the same auditorium. I'm watching a "video" in a portal but I'm in the same place she's at. She has a pleasant voice but it's not excellent. She's confident and she sounds good but she'll probably not get any sort of recording contract. I'm not sure what she's singing.

Then I'm on the floor of the auditorium on the left side of the stage. For some reason the black grand piano is located here and not on the stage. I'm sitting on a chair with my Mom and the piano is located between us and the crowd. The podium is to my left up on the stage and to my right is where all the preachers and VIPs are sitting. I don't actually see who they are but I sense that my Dad is up there with them.

A large, pompous looking preacher with big hair goes up to the podium. I remember thinking how round he is in his suit. It looks like a barrel on him. He looks like a plug. His name is Mike Anderson but he doesn't look like Mike. He looks like another preacher I know who isn't in the UPC now but I can't remember his name. He's taking the offering and trying to raise money for something.

I remember that I get pretty upset by that. I can't believe they're taking such a beautiful time to raise money. I'm offended. My Mom looks at me because she's nervous about my reaction. She wants me to accept it. I look at my Mom and suddenly she gets really old and doesn't look like herself. Her skin gets dark and mummified, her eyes are bright blue and they are sunken into her head. She doesn't look the same to me but somehow I know it's her. I ask her "Why? Why do they have to do this here? Why can't they raise money somewhere else? This is terrible". She seems to understand my angst but seems nervous because she can't do anything about it and she wants me to not point out the fallacy of it all.

Then I look to my right and I see a man who I think is Bro. Rash but it doesn't really look like him. It looks more like Mel Brooks, the comedian, but he has a redder face and his teeth are slightly bucked. He's taking some sort of colorful schematic out of a large, long, rectangular white paper envelope. It made of card stock and has lots of letters in squares with bright colors behind them. They look like they're perforated and are meant to be torn apart and handed out to people. For some reason I sense it's part of the fund raising effort that fatso is praying about at the podium in some long, puffed up, flowery prayer that's not impressing me or God.

But "Bro. Rash" seems really confused about how it's all supposed to work. I hear him tell the guy standing next to him who is supposed to help him with it, "I can't remember how it works. I had it all figured out. I'm sorry. I can't remember." He seems embarrassed, flustered, and frustrated and he tries to stuff the card thing back into back into the envelope. I remember thinking, "I hope Dad doesn't see this. It'll drive him nuts." because my Dad hates it when things are unorganized and not ready.

Then I look back to my left and my Mom is laying down on the piano bench. She looks normal again, not all mummified. But she's in pain. She tries several times to sit up but she is in so much pain that she can't sit up. I ask her what's the matter and she can't tell me. She's just in pain. I want to help. She says to go upstairs to the 17th floor, room 87 and get some Rolaids or Pepto-Bismol from "Bro." some-body, I can't remember his name. I think it might be Jim Larson but I'm not sure.

So I run to the back of the stage to cut across the auditorium to the exit doors on the other side. As I enter the backstage area it's a large, long hallway with rooms to the sides. Everything is bright white. I see "Bro. Rash" coming toward me. We talk. Maybe he's the one that tells me about the 17th floor and room 87. I can't remember for sure. He doesn' t have what I need though and walks past me out the door I just entered.

I walk down the hallway and I come to an open room where lots of UPC ladies are busy. It looks like they're getting homemade or second hand stuff ready to sell somewhere. They seem pretty focused on what they're doing. It seems like I talk to one of them briefly but I don't remember what we said.

I keep going down the walkway and find the exit doors. I find myself in a wide hallway and realize the auditorium is part of a large hotel. I feel very confident and I move very smoothly. I'm looking for stairs or the elevator. At each doorway is a man standing guard. He is a deacon or elder from the church. I don't recognize him but I know that what they are. They are watching me with their arms crossed and bemused looks on their face. I don't feel threatened by them I don't feel they're going to help me.

At one point I feel my pants unsnap and I snap them closed again and laugh. I notice that I'm wearing out date clothing. Clothing that was once trendy but now out dated. I notice my watch is a black Swatch.

There are lots of people in the hallways and I have to push through them. They're all going the opposite direction. I think some of the are church people.

Suddenly I'm upstairs and I sense that I've arrived on the 17th floor. I'm on a ledge/balcony type hallway that overlooks the lobby below, kind of like Embassy Suites. I go around a curved corner and notice table next the ledge with a girl sitting there in one of two chairs. I sense that I'm almost to room 87 but I sit down to talk to her.

She's very pretty. Blonde hair. Young, maybe 20 or so. She's very friendly and open. Nice smile and she looks you in the eye with honesty and kindness. She's kind of slouched in the chair with her knees pressed against the edge of the table and her knees are above the table. She's just chilling out with me. I'm not sure what she's talking about.

In the course of our conversation I look away and when I look back I notice that she's not wearing a shirt. I blink because I can't believe it. She acts like it's nothing and keeps talking. I notice that her breasts are very small, almost non-existent. I look down and notice that I'm wearing a button down shirt with the top two or three buttons undone and my chest hair is sticking out. I interrupt her and comment that at least I have chest hair. She stops and looks at me with a "What in the world are you talking about?" look. I say, at least if I'm not wearing a shirt I have something to cover up my chest so people can't see it. She looks at me with a very strange look, as if I've weirded out or something.

10/10/06

2006-10-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

I’m in a business, it feels like it’s probably my old company where I used to work although the office feels like a retail store and is not a place I recognize. I don't remember seeing any phones but I get the sense that it's a cell phone store. I feel a sense of animosity toward the place and even though I’m there the employees don’t recognize me. The manager is a tall black guy that looks like the bank manager on the TV show “The Nine”. I’m milling around trying to spy on them for some reason. I’m not sure what it is I want to know. At one point I’m listening in on their phone conversations and learning stuff they’re doing that I don’t like. Then the employees are all milling around about me. They’re all young and they’re all wearing royal blue polo shirts. Suddenly the manager is calling everybody together for some sort of talk. Behind him is a cabinet with large cubby holes that goes to the ceiling. Inside the cubby holes are fancy pieces of electronic equipment. One is a cool looking PA sound board. He’s trying to motivate them by telling them how much money they’ll make and look at all the cool prizes you’ll get if they’ll just do their job. I’m skeptical because I’ve worked for this company and don’t like them. Suddenly things get strange. There is a commotion of sorts and a couple of the female employees are dressed in sexy teddy’s and at first it appears they're having sex with the manager. The gross thing is that he’s not having sex with them, he has his business suit on still and his leg is up to his knee inside them from behind. There is lots of blood and pain as he does his business. So much so that I have to turn my head because I can’t bear to look.

10/10/06

2006-10-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Vivid dreams last night but only remember pieces and they don't make much sense to me.

1) I'm in Germany at the military base where I grew up. I'm driving in a car to the Billeting Office where I used to watch football games on the waiting room TV with my Dad and brother. I'm going there to see a car. I saw a picture of this car in internet and I guess I really wanted to see. Maybe buy it? It's some sort of VW Bug, an older one. When I drive up I see several Bugs but they all look normal, nothing special and I can't remember exactly what the one on the internet looked like. So I called my wife on my cell and she looks it up and describes it to me. But I still can't find it in the parking lot. I start to drive way up the hill to the Officer's Club.

2) I'm at some sort of Men's Retreat. It seems obvious to me that there are groups from several different churches there and most of the men are strangers to me. I'm sitting in a large room, kind of like a rec room in a lodge with all the men. Probably a couple hundred men. I'm sitting with people I know from my church. Rustin is there. Josh Vigil is there. To my left is a group of maybe 30 men and their pastor is a very large, fat man who seems to have affected airs about him. He seems pretty full of himself in some ways. His name is David Willoughby. He waddles over to a piano and it feels like he's going to lead worship. I'm not very enthused about the whole thing. I think the guy is a arrogant and puffed up.

3)I'm still at the Men's Retreat but I'm standing in a hallway of sorts talking to Rustin and Stephanie. I'm not sure why she's there. We're sitting there talking and I think Josh Vigil walks up and starts talking to us too. All the sudden I really have to fart. I'm trying not to but I have to really bad. So I excuse myself and go into another room.

(editorial note: Come to think of it, I really did have pizza for dinner last night. :) )

4) I'm in a golf cart type vehicle and on a tropical island in a densely populated suburbian neighborhood. Feels kind of a like a seniors retirement type neighborhood. The street is narrow, zero lot line, no sidewalks. I stop at a street sign that has someone's address on it and I use some sort of device to change the address on the sign. Then somebody points out that some sort of "police" is coming. So I change it back although I have a hard time reading the address number on the side of the house to make it correct on the sign. The "police" come over and I explain that I'm changing it back, that I didn't realize it was a big deal. The "police" ask the homeowner if it's ok and we all determine that there is no harm thus no foul.

5) I'm still with the people in the golf cart and we're driving down toward the ocean. We get to an intersection right by the beach and discuss what we want to do. I get out and walk around the bend on the beach and suddenly I'm lost and can't find my friends. At first I'm not concerned I just keep walking through shallow water. Is see a pretty girl about 50 yards away in a bikini. I'm in shorts with no shirt and wish I wasn't so fat. I think to myself that if I were buff I wouldn't be ashamed to wear no shirt. Suddenly I feel a real urge to find my friends and start calling out their names. At this point I've gone back onto land and have started to go into the trees. But I turn around and head back into the water to go back around the bend to find my friends.

6) My friends are gone and I'm at a building on the island. I had previously constructed a saffolding structure on the outside of the building with wood planks. The building is a two story building that looks like a lodge or apartment building with dark wood siding. Rough wood. A storm has come and blown down my scaffolding. The wood looks weatherbeaten as if the scaffolding had been there for awhile. A man is reprimanding me in a kind way and telling me that I didn't build it correctly. He's pointing out here and there and telling me what I did wrong and how I should have done this and that to make it stronger. I don't mind his criticism because I feel that it's constructive and I want to do better.

7) I'm in small truck. Maybe one of those little pick up truck type carts that gardeners use to haul stuff around. Somebody is with me but I'm not sure who it is. I'm driving on a very narrow, paved path. Kind of like a walking path. I'm going up a hill and I come on a small clearing behind a tall cyclone fence. Behind the fence is a high school football team in my old high school colors. I comment to the man that they're from my old high school, but he current team, not my old team. I don't recognize any of the kids. They're in uniform, but not in pads. They're all lined up in a grid doing warm up exercises. Very serious looks on their faces.

The path takes me along the edge of the fence and down a hill to my left. Suddenly I'm driving on a wooden boardwalk that's built on the side of a steep hill. The board walk curves ahead and traverses back across the hill. Suddenly there is a woman walking on the boardwalk in front of me. I swerve to miss her and run off the board walk and land sideways on the boardwalk below. My companion and I get up and pick up the cart and put it back on the upper boardwalk from which we'd fallen.

10/9/6

2006-10-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've been dreaming but I can't remember what it was. At one point I kind of woke up and was trying to remember what I was dreaming but it wouldn't come to me.

I've noticed that I'm starting to wake up between 6 am and 6:15 am every morning. When I do I just kind of lay there and let my mind drift between reality and sleep. Kind of a twilight of sorts. I've heard that this is an incredibly creative time for your mind. Bono does that and gets all sorts of melodies and lyrics for their music.

That's usually what I do. I start to remember little bits and pieces and then it all starts coming back and then I think about it and commit it to memory. Then I blog on here about it w/in and hour or two. If I don't then i will usually forget all or part of it.

This morning I was trying to remember my dream but I couldn't, it just wouldn't come. But then I got to thinking about the whole love of God thing and I laid there in that semi-dream state for an hour and a half as I preached sermon off the cuff about the love of God and the kingdom of God. I remembered scripture I didn't realize I even knew. It was all coming together in my head and it was beautiful. I was actually moved by the message. It flowed very well and just kind of synthsized all that I've been thinking about into a cogent, flowing, organized, thoughtful presentation. I don't remember it all now that I'm awake but I know it 's there and eventually it'll come out they way I dreamed it. When it does it will be my message that I'll preach for the rest of my life.

10/7/6

2006-10-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

1) I evidently bought a brand new VW Beetle and then wrecked it after driving 4332 miles. I evidently borrowed my friend's car trailer and hauled the wreck to a junk yard. Oddly, the body is missing and only the inner skin is there. I have my Ford E350 van w/me and I'm working very hard to take the new wheels and tires off because they're expensive wheels and tires. I want to keep them. In the process I remember thinking that maybe I ought to have kept the whole car and parted it out. At one point I remember thinking that I needed to return the trailer to my friend. I came back a couple of times to finish the job. I remember kind of being in a hurry because the junk yard guys would come and take it away. At one point the car was the size of a remote control car and I could hold in my hand while I used a Phillips screwdriver to unscrew the wheels like you would on a model car. At other times the car was full sized. I remember commenting to a guy I know named Robert, a used car salesman, about how few miles were on the car and he couldn't believe it. Inside my van there was a lot of stuff that belonged to my wife. Not sure what it was exactly but I know it belonged to my wife.

2) It's dark and I'm with a bunch of people that I know but can't exactly remember who they are now. I just know that I was with people I know. We're all talking and messing around and it's a football field in the middle of a wooded area. At one point we leave and go somewhere and then come back, walking thru the woods back to the field. We pick up footballs and throw them back and forth. At one point we're playing tackle football with pads. It's just practice though, not the real thing. Then we're sitting near the endzone in some chairs and just talking about stuff. Can't remember what we were talking about.

3) I am in an old house in neighborhood on a somewhat busy street. It's white and wood clapboard siding like they did in the 40's. I live at the house but I'm moving out rather unexpectedly. I'm packing kind of haphazardly and wondering where I'll get boxes to fit all this stuff. It's odd because I normally sell off a bunch of stuff before I move but this time I'm just packing stuff as I get to it, no thought to keeping like things together or anything like that. There are people there but I can't remember who. This dream seems to mix with the VW one. It seems like I went back and forth between those two dreams. I remember some old windows that I'd bought at an auction once. I thought, "I should throw those out" but then I noticed that my wife had painted on them so I left them alone. At one point I remember getting something down off a high armoire and my baby was standing at the foot of the ladder. The house feels like my grandpa's old podiatry practice. It was an old white house in Broadripple, Indiana on Michigan Street.

4) I'm driving along a narrow, curvy road along the edge of a neighborhood. I notice that coming down a hill directly in my path are two CHP cars chasing an 80's Ford Mustang. In the Mustang is a Mexican guy and on the left rear corner is a distinctive sticker. I remember that I'd seen this vehicle in another dream somewhere else but can't place it for sure. The lead CHP car is pushing the Mustang around, trying to get him to stop. I swerve around them and keep driving. I look in my rearview mirror and see the Mustang get spun very slowly 360 degrees and start to drive toward me. It seems like maybe he's after me. Before I can react a full sized white Chevy or GMC pick up starts backing out of a driveway directly to my left and I have to swerve to miss him. I try to honk but I don't remember that my horn worked and he kept coming. I gunned the motor and somehow missed being hit. I get to an intersection just ahead and it seems like I made a right hand turn onto an onramp to a freeway.

10/6/6

2006-10-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

1) I'm standing on the bank of the White River in Indianapolis at my family's property. Things have changed since the last time I was here. The river is a little wider. It's been dredged and the water is deeper and darker and cleaner. Across the river to my right someone has built a large stone wall right up to the bank. Directly across and to my left around the bend all the homes there have been leveled and a new canal has been dug so that water is flowing behind where the houses used to be and the land serves as a levee or water wall of sorts. The current is swifter and I feel it's dangerous. Several of us wade out into the water and I caution the smaller ones to be careful as I'm afraid the current will carry them away.

10/4/6

2006-10-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

I was the closing cashier in a supermarket. It was very late, about 2 am. I was trying to count out the money and it was very confusing because a guy named Eric had used the drawer and had gotten it all messed up. He had his personal checks mixed in with the customer checks and it was a mess trying to figure it out. Then when it thought I had it covered I found another bunch of cash in the drawer and had to start over. There were two ladies there too, I don't know who they were. They seemed rather impressed that I was staying so late. I got the impression that I'd worked here before and had just come back. I was training a guy, a black guy, but he was sleeping in a break room because it was so late and he was tired.

I guess I finally got it all done and was walking home in the dark when I remembered that I'd not locked up the store. I went back and as I got there I noticed a couple of teenagers, one w/a beanie cap, going into the store.

10/3/6

2006-10-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

Don't remember any dreams from last night. I guess I've been too tired, sick, and stressed. I know I dreamed last night because I remember waking up and trying to remember what they were. But by the time I woke up this morning I'd forgotten.

10/1/6

2006-10-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Didn't dream much last night. Must have been too tired to remember. Do remember a couple of pieces.

Was in my fifth grade class room with a bunch of church friends. Rustin was there, a second grade friend named Joey was there, another friend named Em was there. The room was very large with a couple hundred white pendant lights hanging from the ceiling. Only about a third of them were lit. I commented to Rustin that maybe the new lighting would help the filming.

My friend Em was standing in front of me telling the group something. It was really weird because he was wearing tan pants, a black leather jacket and he had dark red finger nail polish on his fingernails. Nobody seemed to notice that. At one one he back up so close to me that I thought he would fall in my lap. A girl sitting next to me and I were laughing about that.

Then they were trying to get me to audition for a singing part of some musical production. I didn't want to even though I thought I probably could. They kept insisting but I don't think I did.

Then I'm out in the hallway and passing college age people in the hallways. I'm at the stairwell but it's really strange. You walk down part of the stairs and then have to jump down to the lower level. I start to do it but realize it's a further drop than I'm comfortable with so I bail. The stairs are made of aluminum and look kind of like garage doors.

I'm in the parking lot outside my elementary school and headed toward the playground. I'm trying to put my shoes on as I run but they have grass and dirt in them. I empty them and put them on as I'm running.

9/30/6

2006-10-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

No dreams last night that I can remember. A couple snatches of my baby running across a muddy driveway and getting his feet all dirty and me pulling back some carpet to reveal hardwood floor underneath. Other than that, nada.

9/29/6

2006-09-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

1) I'm in high school again. It's a new high school and very high tech. I'm new to the high school too. I'm between classes and can't figure out what my next class is or where it is. I have a strip of paper that has codes on it which is my class schedule but it's been ripped and I can't read it. So I go to the office to find out and they try to make me use a computer to find out, kind of like automatic ticket machines at metro stations, but my schedule is ripped and it won't work. So a lady helps me but tells me I can't go to class because my Mom owes $300 to the school.

2) I'm inside an upper floor of a large office building. It's very expansive and obviously going to be very nice. Reminds me of something Trump would build. It's under construction and it's obvious to me that the crews are behind schedule and really don't know what they're doing. They're at the sheetrock phase. I'm kind of helping them but I'm not a part of the crew.

The big boss comes and isn't happy. I get the feeling that he's ruthless. He looks like a mafia boss. Overweight, expensive suit and several people in his entourage. He rips into the crew and then they take a lunch break. I comment to one of the foremen that maybe they should have planned better. That I would have planned it out before I started. He looked at me with a mixture of tired helplessness and irritability.

Suddenly the building is done and it's absolutely stunning inside. It's about 8 stories high and about 2 blocks wide, the outside is a red brick veneer. The inside is beautiful with carpet, wood, granite, and tile.

For some reason the boss has told his men to kill everybody involved w/the construction project. We're all panicked. I'm not a part of the crew but I'm lumped in with them somehow. The bosses men start roaming the building looking for all of us to kill us. Every man for himself. I start looking for a way out. In the process of running from room to room looking for an exit I run through an interior atrium of sorts. Inside is the boss and he's on a cell phone. He looks at me annoyed but doesn't try to kill me. I run across to another door and tell him how beautiful the room is. It had incredible mosaic tiles on the floor and even on the doors. I exit the room and find a stairway that leads to the ground floor.

I escape the building through the stairway and head across the parking lot toward a street. It feels like early morning. Dark, cold. The cars on the street have headlights on. As I try to cross the street an incredibly strong wind prevents me from crossing. I try several times to cross and am physically leaning into the wind like you see people do during hurricanes. It almost blows me backwards. But I don't want to go back to the building and get killed. So I keep pressing. With my head nearly pressed to the ground in front of me I remember thinking "I wonder what this part of the dream means?".

Eventually I cross the road and enter a building that's an indoor/outdoor market of sorts. Vegetables and fruit all over the place on stands. Reminds me of the fruit stands in Monterey. The place is run by Asians. They seem scared that I'm there and hide. I consider stealing one of their vehicles to get away but don't because I figure I'll stick out like a sore thumb. The vehicles are those little dinky trucks that barely fit a man inside the cab.

I walk down the street and it's daylight now. I run into two ladies that I recognize. One's younger, the other's older. Like they could be mother and daughter. The younger lady is in her 20's, maybe early 30's and they're both attractive and well kempt. I talk to them but they act apprehensive about talking to me and walk away. As they walk away they're caught up in a small group of 6-7 people that are walking down the street. I join them. I recognize a couple of the people as workers in the building crew. I get nervous because I figure I now have a better chance of being caught so I start to look for a way to leave the group. I notice a park to our right, the building is to our left.

Suddenly I hear everyone gasp and point up. Somebody is standing on the edge of the new building. It's a guy and it looks like he's dressed in some sort of blue track suit. He yells something about Christina. "I love you Christina" or "I'm sorry Christina", something like that. And then he jumps and everybody screams. He hits the ground on a mezzanine area with a splat/thud. People are running to see him. I use the disctraction to run across the street to the park.

As I enter the park I can see people in there that are obviously looking for someone. I assume they're looking for me. The park has large flower beds with paths in between them. The first flower bed is dead, but the other ones seem to have flowers. I run down the path and find a small building. I enter the building.

It's another office building. Very contemporary. New. It's the end of the day and nobody is there, but lights are on. I try to find a place to hide. But then I notice a female who's going around shutting off the lights. She's not a security guard but she could report me if she wanted to. I try to hide from her on a spiral staircase. She walks right by me once, but on her way back she sees me. I don't say anything but I just look at her. She seems to take pity on me but I can tell she's nervous about getting caught. It seems that now I sense that other people are in the building looking for me so I hide in a small empty room by standing flat against a wall.

Then my wife, my Mom, and the lady are watching me clean a large window in a hallway of the building with a squeegee. Then I'm cleaning up dust and dirt off the floor and putting it in an office garbage can.

9/28/6

2006-09-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

1) I'm at a self serve, card lock gas station and there are a couple of other pickup trucks. I notice a gravel driveway directly behind the gas station and a couple of vehicles driving down it. So I drive down there. At the end to my right is a second hand store. I get out.

I'm selling a large, beautiful rug at the second hand store. For some reason I need the money. The rug is fairly new so I hope that I'm not losing too much on the deal. A woman is helping me. We're actually outside the store, behind it, in a fenced in area with shelves and racks of stuff for sale. I see furniture and a large rack of rugs and lots of other stuff. Kind of like the outdoor garden section at Home Depot. It's a retail environment but outdoors.

The lady is nice and goes to the boss and asks how much he'd pay for the rug. I wait nervously. She comes back with a smile and says he'll give $70. I'd paid $72 for it so I figured that was a great deal and she seemed happy for me. She seems to be taking a long time to count out the money from the drawer. I consider offering to help but she seems pretty intent on it so I give her space.

I notice a pot with some liquid in it on a hot plate on a table next to me. For some reason I take the liquid and pour it on the ground. I'm surprised to note that it's red in color and thick, like sugary syrup. It forms a puddle on the ground. I sense that it's hardening and that if I don't clean it up quick it'll be very difficult to get up later. She comes over to help. I notice a package of napkins under a table nearby. I grab them but the napkins all stick together in a string like and accordion. I keep pulling and end up with a large pile of napkins. Then I notice there are some pieces of clothing mixed in with the napkins. I laugh because it' so stupid. I dump the clothing and napkins on the red globby stuff.

I notice that to my left is a hallway of sorts and my youngest son is walking away from me and is at the end of the hallway looking to his left. He's only wearing a diaper and it's only half on.

Then I feel threatened. I feel the owner is accusing me of something and that I have to run. I run out of the enclosure and around the corner of a wall. I can't run very fast and realize I'm going to be caught. I notice that I'm back in the gravel driveway. I whirl around to face my attackers and somehow I defeat the first one. I think I kick him in the chest and he falls down. I turn around to run and am attacked by two thin Asian looking people who have small revolvers. Somehow I knock the revolver out of the first one's hand and shoot him w/it. I have to cock the gun by pulling back on the action and then I shoot the second one before he can shoot me.

Then I notice a couple of people to my left and a door in front of me. I open the door to get away and someone says I shouldn't go in there. I feel invincible and figure they're wrong. I gotta get out of here. The door opens to another outdoor area. There are three or four concrete stairs with and iron railing that lead down to a small balcony looking area made of large concrete blocks. It's cold, foggy, and everything is a blue like it's being lit by moonlight. There is another balcony area above me and the shadowy figure of a teenage girl is there, she's leaning against the rail very casually. I don't recognize her because of the darkness. I think she may be the one who told me not to go in there. Actually I think she says it again and says it's dangerous. But she's so casual about it. Over the rail on my balcony it looks like water and fog. For a moment I feel I'm suspended over the water and I feel apprehension, but not really fear. More the fear that's fear of the unknown, not the raw fear of something that's known. But in the back of my head is a nagging fear about the danger and that maybe I've gotten into something over my head.

2) (I'm not sure if this is a seperate dream or part of the previous one) I'm in the back of a station wagon that's going backwards across a narrow, stone bridge. There are people on the bridge and I'm afraid we're going to hit somebody. I'm on the tailgate and it's down. Suddenly the car stops and I'm pitched out onto the bridge and I almost hit someone. I apologize. The car is gone and I'm on the bridge just standing there but feeling a sense of urgency that I have to get away and/or that something is coming to get me.

9/27/6

2006-09-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

1) I'm in a crowded train station, more like a metro station. Not big like a Union Station, more like an outlying metro station in a large city. I'm in a hurry to get to my train. It's important that I catch the train. I'm naked but nobody seems to notice and even though I'm concious of it I don't worry about it too much.

As I round a corner headed to the track I'm stopped by an offical looking guy from the railroad. He's in his late 30's, early 40's and has a very open, happy, friendly face. Blonde hair and small glasses. Kind of like Teddy Roosevelt. He asks to see my papers. I hand him what I have and he starts looking them over and gets on the phone with someone talking about my stuff. I overhear what he's saying and I get angry because he's not representing my credentials correctly, he's misinterpreting my papers and is saying that I don't have something in there that I know for a fact is in there. I'm beside myself because he can't see it stamped right there! But he keeps insisting it's not there. I start to get worried because now he's going to make me miss my train. Sure enough, he jacks it all up and I have to wait three days in the waiting room while they verify my credentials.

While I'm there it drives me mad to see all the people getting on the trains while I have to sit there helpless. I'm angry with the guy for holding me up, and angry with myself for being fooled by his friendly face and not realizing he'd hold me up. I resent that he has the power to hold me up even though he doesn't know what he's doing.

There's an old guy who calls out "Train to New York! New Yorrrrk! Leaving on track 5, right now!" (it was actually some other city but I can't remember the name so I'm using New York here) and he pushes a button that opens a pneumatic door where people exit out of the waiting room to go onto the platform to catch their train.

I remember sitting down next to an army soldier in Class A uniform and feeling frustrated. He tells me I'm lucky, that he's back from Iraqi but going to back there again. I start to appreciate my position as he tells me stuff about Iraqi. I can't remember what he said exactly.

Then the train station goes away and I'm standing on the edge of a very large empty field, maybe 300-400 acres with a tree line in the distance in the background. There are a couple of trees but mainly it's just flat farmland, no brush. In the distance I see a herd of large machines coming from my right. As they get closer I can see the first few are duece-and-a-half army trucks. They're driving extremely fast for the topography and their size. They fly by me going maybe 50-60 mph over the dirt fields, bouncing all around precariously. One of them goes past me and slides to a stop sideways about 50 yards to my left. It seems there may be a road or some sort of boundry to my right but I'm not for certain.

Then behind these vehicles is a group of large earthmoving, tilling machines that are moving in a concerted but seemingly chaotic and hurried fashion. They're all kinds of different machines that I don't recognize but in their own way they're tearing into the soil and churning it up. Some of them are tall like combines, othes look similar to ditch witches and hybrids of normal earthmoving Catepillar type machines. Some are dragging hooks, others have discs, some have blades, some are pushing dirt. Dust is in the air.

Behind them comes another row of earthmovers that move the earth even more than the others. They feel ominous as they approach. I feel a sense of awe, almost fear. They're very low slung and squareish with large tires, like the pushers that move airplanes. A plume of dust rises up between and behind them as they tear into the earth. These machines create deep rows of large nearly perfectly rounded furrows about 5 feet high.

I feel compelled to go touch the dirt on these furrows. I feel kind of weird because I don't know why I want to touch it and I feel as if I have to act like I know what I'm doing even though I don't. I run to the other side of the field and approach one of the furrows so that now I'm facing the opposite direction than before. The trucks are now to my right. I put my finger in the dirt and rub it between my fingers as if I know someone is watching (I think it's a driver of one of the machines that seems to be stopped nearby to my right) and I have to act like I have a purpose in wanting to touch the dirt even though I have no idea why I want to touch it and don't perceive any significance in the texture of he dirt. It's just dirt. I walk away from the furrow rubbing it and nodding my head knowingly.

2) I'm in an RV type van that belongs to my friend Brent R. There are several friends, all male. We're just hanging out and eating and having a good time. It's odd because we're not meeting at his house, we're in his RV. Can't remember what we talked about or why we're there. I do konw that I joke about that we're meeting in the RV and not in his house. Maybe we're parked in his driveway, I'm not sure. We go away but then later we come back. Brent's family is in the vehicle now but it feels more like a mini-van now. He's digging around in the backseat area looking for my shoes. He finds them and tosses them at me one at a time and they land outside on the ground. They're black basketball shoes.

9/27/9

2006-09-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

1) I'm driving an SUV, like a MBenz G-Wagon I think. There is a shadowy figure behind me that I feel compelled to leave behind and get away from. The figure might be speaking to me but I'm not sure. But I get the feeling it doesn't want me to continue what I'm doing and doesn't want me to go forward. I also feel that I don't want to hear what it has to say and I think it's wrong. I'm driving into a dense wooded area but I can't find a path to drive thru. I think I see a way thru and start to go there but then am blocked by trees I didn't see before. I put the car in reverse and try again in another direction. Blocked again. When I back I up the shadowy figure moves out of the way so I won't hit it. But it's odd, the figure doesn't seem try to be getting me to leave the forest, but it seems to be worried about where I'm going at the same time. I get a little frantic because I feel like I MUST get into/thru the woods and I'm frustrated by the constant delay. Suddenly to my right I see an opening. As if by magic I see a straight path, like a runway right through the trees. It's fairly wide, kind of like when they clear brush and trees for electrical towers. The path has undulating hills that are pretty close to each other and are about 8-10 feet high. As soon as one hill ends the next one starts. They use them in indoor MotoCross, can't remember what they're called. It reminds me of a hill I used to ride my bike on when I was a kid. We called it Suicide Hill because if you went too fast and jumped the hills too fast you'd end up wrecking before you got to the bottom. To go too fast was suicide but if you stayed just within the limits of control you'd have a great ride and survive it too. This hill was in the some woods as well now that I think about it. I immediately gun the motor to head down the path but then I remember my lessons from Suicide Hill. I know that if I go too fast I'll wreck the car and tear up the suspension. So I try to go down the path as quickly as possible but in a measured, reasonable way at the same time. As I start to go down the path I see other vehicles to the sides of the path. They're parked perpendicular to the path and have their wheels turned in the same direction as me as if they're waiting for me to pass and then they'll pull in behind me. I remember being a little surprised at seeing these other vehicles in the middle of the woods.

2) I'm in a neighborhood but there is an empty lot that runs from one block to the next between some structures of some sort. In the lot is a vegetable garden. Lots of green plants about calf to knee high. There's a path that runs directly down the middle of the garden. I'm walking down the path and my wife and my Mom are walking in front of me. I notice across the street an older man, maybe 50's or 60's. He as a beard and is dressed in camoflauge like a bird with white, black, and gray feathers. He has a camera and is shooting photos of a small group of medium sized birds that are walking down the path toward us. He seems to be a nice guy, doesn't seem to up to trouble or anything. I don't know what kind of birds they are but they have the same color pattern as the man's camo. They seem pretty bold and we move out of their way. In the process we end up on the ground laying amongst the plants. As the birds go around my Mom and wife, I'm still behind them, I get my cellphone out and try to take a photo of one of the birds because I figure maybe it'll be valuable because the man across the street is going to so much trouble to get their photo. Because of my Mom and wife in front of me I have trouble getting a clear shot though. Just as I get a clear shot and am starting to take the photo the birds rush around my wife, who is on the left in front of me, and rush into the row of vegetables to my left. As soon as they come around the corner all the sudden they aren't birds anymore they're little puppies, like Cocker Spaniels. I reach out them to pet them and they jump all over me with sloppy kisses and wagging tails.

3) I'm in a large warehouse type building. There are lots of people and lots of activity. I kind of feels like the local distribution center for UPS. I'm a driver and I have a truck and I'm loaded up. I feel an urgency to get out of the building. But the way out of the building is blocked by other trucks. I see that I can squeeze through two trucks and get out. Since there are so many people and it's such a tight squeeze I try to go slow and be careful. To my right a woman is loading packages into her truck. A couple of her packages fall on the ground just as I'm squeezing past her and I accidentally run over them. I hear them crunch under the tires and feel the van shift. She is angry with me and walks around the front of my van. I can't hear what she's saying but it's obvious she's giving me a piece of her mind. I roll down my window and apologize profusely and she starts to walk away but still seems very angry. For some reason I get the impression that she's either Spanish or Asian. Dark hair, light, colored skin.

4) I kind of remember another dream that involved me walking and/or trying to find a path through a field of grass and it's dark/overcast outside. That's all i remember.

9/25/6

2006-09-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

My son's dream...

There were several dwarves and one dwarf was being really annoying and he had no legs. He was being so annoying that the other dwarves were going cut off his abdomen because getting rid of his legs evidently made him less annoying. So just as they were going to do that my son noticed that there were a bunch of guns on a rack on the wall next to him. So he grabbed one that was really sparkly. Then everybody came to him plus a bunch of other dwarves came out of nowhere because they wanted the sparkly gun.

9/26/6

2006-09-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Three dreams...

1) My son and I are pushing an empty baby carriage around a large university that seems to be located in the middle of a city. The university is very ornate and old and beautiful from an old world artsy point of view. But it's also been modernized in a nice hotel, Vegas kind of way with lots of burgundy and gold. There aren't alot of people around but we do see a few students with backpacks. At one point as we're leaving the building we have to lift the baby carriage up and over a couple of students sitting on a small stairway near the exit.

Once we get outside we go down a block and re-enter the university through an atrium that we'd visited previously. We go through a doorway and down a hallway up some stairs and find ourselves in the cafeteria. I sense a window to my left and without looking know that it's located on the second floor overlooking a courtyard of sorts and underwhich is walkways so it's kind of a bridge of sorts from one part of the building to another. I remember thinking "Oh, this is the cafeteria that guy told me about!". There aren't very many people in the cafeteria and nobody seems to notice us. We feel like visitors.

As we're looking over some of the food there we're joined by my wife's friend Chrissy who we've known for 20 years. It seems like we're waiting for my wife to arrive and aren't sure if we should get our food or not. Chrissy seems excited that they have grilled chicken available. We decide to go down to the other end of the counter because there is a grill to order cook down there.

Then we're outside the university and my wife is with us. We're walking across a beautiful stone bridge and there seems to be an auto accident ahead. It appears that a white pickup with some sort of official logo on the side has collided with another vehicle that we can't see. The pickup is parked on the left side of the bridge and the driver is still behind the wheel. My wife starts giving a statement to the cops as if she witnessed the accident. I think that's odd because we didn't witness the accident. I hear the cop tell her "But ma'am, the other vehicle was not a Jeep Cherokee!".

I decide not to get involved so I walk across the street to the other side. Chrissy and my son come with me. We're standing behind another official looking truck, and SUV I think and there is a box of poster sized posters on the ground behind the back bumper of the SUV. I start looking thru the posters and realize they're WANTED posters of terrorists. But they're not the normal kind of black and white, mug shot posters. They're colorful, abstract water color paintings but they're WANTED posters too. I remember thinking they were cool looking.

For some reason Chrissy takes my hand and holds it. I let her hold my hand because I want her to hold it, I like it. She lets go but I take her hand back and we interlace our fingers. It's intimate but it's not a carnal thing. We look deeply into each other's eyes but it's a familiar, brotherly/sisterly kind of thing, not at all sexual. I remember feeling emotional and loved. I'm afraid that people will misunderstand what's going on so I let go of her hand and she seems to understand why.

2) I'm in the backyard of what I understand is my home. It's an art deco townhome in a city. We're in the backyard and we have a swimming pool and deck area and there are other people there and it feels to me like they're family/friends but I don't know exactly who they are. I'm walking from the deck area which is set back toward the rear of the back yard past the pool on my way to the back door of the house.

As I pass the pool I notice a teenage boy floating on his back in the pool enjoying the sun. I also notice that the pool water has a film of scum on the top as if the filter hasn't been running and the dust is settling on the water. The water is clean but junk has started to accumulate on the surface. I notice at one end alot of brown leaves floating on the water and a large, thick stick floating among the leaves. I remember thinking, "Man, I wouldn't swim in that pool. I'd swim in the one in the front yard".

As I approach my back door I decide to go ask my neighbor for whatever it was I was going to my house to get. It's the same neighbor I have now, the Huckaby's although I only sense that I don't actually see them. I notice that the new fence we've had installed is terribly constructed. The boards are spaced haphazardly anywhere from two inches to two feet apart and aren't straight. The Huckaby's dog has no trouble jumping back and forth between their yard and ours. I now notice that I too have a dog but it's a larger dog like a Shepherd or a Lab. He doesn't bark at their smaller dog, he just kind of stands there at my side and watches the other dog.

I have to climb over the fence to get to their back door. They're not home so I climb back over the fence to my yard. I notice that they have an odd fence built inside their yard. The boards are constructed in a diamond shape with large holes in the middle.

3) I'm at a speedway and it's overcast. It feels like either the first time or the last time we'll be racing at this speedway. I'm in the pits that are located on a dirt hill outside the track. I see my friend Kannai in the distance and I start yelling at him to come and look at my new race car that I'd just built. It feels like I built it on the spur of the moment so it's not real nice but he has no idea that I've built one so I know he'll be surprised. Just as I get his attention they tell us to get on the track for practice. There are about 20 other cars. I jump in my car and head toward the gate. Just as I get there my friend sees me and smiles and gives me the thumbs up like "Way to go, glad to see you back!". Just as I get on the track it starts to rain. For some reason I actually have windshield wipers on my race car but they don't work very well and I'm having a hard time seeing the track. I'm trying to get up to speed but it just doesn't seem like the car is very fast and I'm afraid I'll cause a wreck because I'm so slow. Suddenly I'm going pretty fast and I can't hardly control the car and I feel as if I'm above the track running the car on the track with my fingers around the track really fast like you do with Hot Wheel cars on a plastic race track. Suddenly I'm back in my car going into turn three and I know I'm going too fast and the car starts to slide up the track toward the wall. I remember feeling scared and pissed off because I was getting ready to wreck my new race car. I woke up just before I hit the wall.

9/25/6

2006-09-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Two dreams today...

1) I have my wife and family w/me and we're at a very large motel. It's old, run down and has definitely seen it's better days. The kind you see off the strip at Vegas or Reno or Virginia Beach. Non-franchised, with peeling paint and several two story buildings with stairs on the outside and iron railings. Odd thing is that it has several large swimming pools interspersed in the mammoth parking lot. The pools are in various stages of disrepair. Some of them are empty, some of them are half empty, some are full. Not many people at the pools but the ones that are there stare at us as we walk by.

It feels like twilight outside, the sky is turning orange and everything has an orange cast to it. It's as if someone put an orange filter over a lense.

It feels like we're looking for our room. We finally find one and when we open the door it's not a hotel room. It's a large room about the size of a one car garage. It's empty except for several young girls standing in a group near the door. They seem to be a team or something, not sure exactly what. They seemed annoyed that we're there so we go to the back of the room.

There is a large piece of furniture there although I'm not sure what it is. Its near the left hand wall. I set my younger son on top of it and open a folder of papers I have, presumably to check on some information there. For some reason I remember unwrapping plastic off of something new and taking it to a small plastic trash can in the corner. About the same time one of the girls from the group comes over to throw something in there as well. Her trash is a white box the same type as a pizza box but about half the size and thinner. It had the words "THE BOOMBOX" in red on a large white sticker on top.

***********

2) I'm in the backseat of a car. I have no shirt on and I feel as if I'm not in control of the situation. I feel nervous and unsure. I don't know who is driving the vehicle or what kind of vehicle we're in. In the passenger's seat is a man I know named John Larson. He's an older man I've known for the last 20 years and he's the one who introduced me to the company I'm currently partnering with in my new business. He's not paying me much attention even though I'm leaned over the front of the seat and asking him all sorts of questions. He speaks to me a couple time and is friendly enough, but doesn't act as if he wants to talk much. His voice is the voice of N.A. Urshan, not John's. It's really strange. For some reason I think NA is John's Dad and I comment on how much he sounds like his Dad. I don't remember what he told me. At one point I put my face up to his side by side trying to hear what he's saying and see what he's looking at out the window. Weird.

Eventually we arrive at our destination. I don't remember getting there but I remember walking into the office. I am the new guy and don't know anybody or what's going on. I still don't have as shirt on. I'm not self concious about that though because I'm not fat in my dream, I'm more fit. The place is the area behind the teller windows in a bank. Nobody seems to pay much attention to me. John asks me for my drivers license so he can make a copy of it. I realize thought that I don't have my wallet and he seems annoyed. I feel as if I should have been more prepared. I try to tell him that he didn't give me time to get prepared and offer to go home and get my wallet but a lady approaches the teller window to my left and I step up to help her. In the process I cut in front of John and he appears a little annoyed. I apologize and step back to let her help him. The lady says "I'm sure glad HE's not helping me!". To my left is the bank vault. The door is open and I see a man standing in there. He's younger than John. With John I feel a little intimidated but with this guy I feel comfortable and more relaxed. He doesn't say anything to me but I start talking to him. I tell him that I was just hanging out at home and John stopped by and said I had to leave right now and go with him and I was nervous because I didn't know what was going on. It seems like the guy says not to worry about it. About that time my two boys appear and we go inside the vault. I notice that the inside of the vault is poorly lit and that's not currently being used as a vault but more of a storage room with all sorts of misc. stuff stacked here and there. My youngest son starts to climb up on the stuff and I grab him and tell him to be careful and apologize to the guy and say that my kid gets into all sorts of stuff.

The next thing I know I'm standing outside the "bank" (although I don't think it's a real bank because it feels more like a regular office). The parking lot is about 40 yards or so deep, not large. It's empty except for a silver Volvo station wagon in the far right corner. I feel more than see a young girl next to me and feel a sense of urgency to get her and I away from here and I run to the car. I get there and start to drive the car to the front door to pick her up.

As I arrive at the front door a girl seems to be trying to get to me. Just as she arrives at the car she tosses a white plastic bag onto the front seat which I immediately toss into the back seat. She's grabbed by some people who seem to be undercover security types. They seem to be arresting her and put her hands behind her back. I don't recognize her or remember her except that she's young, maybe early 20's. One of the security types, a woman, gets in the car with me and grabs the bag and starts to go through it, presumably looking for whatever was stolen.

Inside the white bag are several quart and pint size ziplock type food bags. Inside are various types of pastas, all of them have white sauce. Mixed in with the sauce are shiny objects that look sort of like diamonds to me although I can't say for sure. But the other lady doesn't seem to see them. I don't say anything about them because if they don't see them then I don't want the girl to get in trouble if I point them out. The lady seems a little frustrated that she can't find what she's looking for in the bag.

Then I'm back inside the "bank" and the girl is still in handcuffs and on her knees in the middle of a semi-dark room. Evidently I'm not connected with her because I feel like I'm an observer and/or a witness to what she's done but not a participant. The security types are milling around as if they're processing a crime scene and doing their job.

The girl looks at me with a helpless look, like she wants me to help her and she feels despair. Evidently I know her because I go over to her and give her a hug and say "Look at it this way, at least you'll have time to go to school like you wanted." It's sincere and I think it'll be of comfort to her. I can't remember her reaction to that.

Blue paisely shirt

2006-09-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

Actually this one a dream my son had a couple days ago. He has vivid dreams and remembers details that are astonishing. He feels compelled to tell me about them so I'll write them down as well.

**********

He says he's walking down a neighborhood street and there are all sorts of Halloween decorations on the houses, lots of orange and black. Then he's approaching a neighborhood drugstore/convenience store and he sees me walking through the front doors. When he gets to the store he looks in and looks for me. He sees the man that went in but realizes it wasn't me, it was somebody else that he doesn't recognize. Confused he turns around and sees me and his mom standing behind him. He said that I'm wearing black dress shoes, thick black leather pants, and a dark blue shirt with a paisely pattern. He says that we get into a Chevy Tahoe with cool wheels. He says that there are boxes and papers in the front seat, he's in the back and I'm driving. We drive away and I'm talking to him but he can't remember what I said. He just remembers that we drive away for awhile and then we come back.

**********

I actually think I know what this dream means.

Let me lay the foundation here.

I am what most people would call a Christian. I visibly cringe at that label because of all the "Church Lady", Mirrorball Man images that term conjures up on many people's minds. But, I do believe in Jesus Christ and I try to live my life according to his teachings, so in that sense I am a Christian.

I am also businessman and I'm in the process of starting a new business. The primary color of the logo of the company I plan to partner with in my new business is blue. My hope for this business was to use it as a financing vehicle for my true passion, ministry.

I also am a minister of sorts and I have been planning to start a "church". I use quotation marks here because it's not really a normal, regular kind of church. More of a spiritual community of sorts. I have all sorts of ideas in seminal form for this venture. However, they're the kinds of ideas that may bring alot of flak and misunderstanding from people and I expect resistance and backstabbing as a result.

However, lately I've been wondering if I should focus on the business and forget about the ministry/church thing for awhile. There have been lots of obstacles to the ministry thing and I've wondered if maybe it wasn't a good time to think about that. Maybe I should just do the business and not try to do both.

Finally, I've been praying for a way to connect with my son on a spiritual level. I've been doing my best to teach my son the ins and outs of business and life survival skills. But on a spiritual level to this point our interaction has been rather banal. I've been looking for a natural intersection point for us to grow together spiritually as he makes his way in the world. I take seriously my job to help prepare him and give him the best chance at success in whatever God has for him in life.

Ok, to the dream.

The neighborhood with the Halloween decorations symbolizes my sons journey through life in the world with all its spirits. He's looking for a father figure and sees me. He sees me going into a business. When gets there he realizes it's not me, although it looks like me. He turns around, 180 degrees and sees me w/his Mom.

My clothing is significant. I rarely wear dress shoes. The only time I've worn them the last few years has been on the rare occassion I've functioned in the role of a minister at a wedding or funeral plus a couple of times at some business meetings pertaining to my new venture. Other than that I don't wear them at all.

The thick leather pants I think represent protection I'll need from the flak I'm sure to get regarding my new "church". It's a thick skin so to speak, protecting my vitals, the source of the creation I'm becoming a father of spiritually. The blue shirt is the connection to my the company I'm partnering with. I had a choice between this company and another company whose primary logo color is red. The paisely pattern to me represents all the ideas I have that are in seminal form. As a teenager my friends and I would joke around about paisley because it looks kind of like sperm. We tease each other about wearing sperm on our clothes. Stupid teenager stuff, but I associate paisley with sperm. Sperm is associated with creation. The ministry I'm looking into requires new ideas and I have tons of them I'd like to birth and grow in this ministry. The combining of the aspects of business and clothing and their colors confirms to me the direction I'm going not only in my business but in the idea that I should combine my business with the ministry.

One last thing in that regard, when my son first told me the ensemble I was wearing he just said I was wearing black shoes, black leather pants, and a bright blue shirt. I immediately thought of a rock star, like Bono. That's something he'd wear. Bono is my hero. I admire how he immerses his faith in popular culture and how he works out his faith in the world outside of the organized church. I see a similar pattern there in how I hope to approach my ministry. I plan to immerse it in culture, maintain a distance from organized church, and do things that are creative and colorful with art and music. That's partly why I'll get flak. As I talked more with my son later he remembered the further details that they were dress shoes and thick leather pants, etc... But the initial image was a rock star like Bono's Fly character.

Ok, so we get in a Chevy Tahoe, he's in back, I'm talking and there are papers and office stuff in the front seat. All of these are significant to me as well. The Tahoe is a cool car for the generation I connect with. That's why it had cool wheels too. A man recently told me that in dreams vehicles usually represent your purpose in life, your ministry so to speak. My son and I both get in the Tahoe together which I interpret to mean that we'll work together in this business/ministry venture. Mainly for him it'll be the vehicle that God and I use to train him in life skills, business skills, and compassion journeys through puberty and into young manhood on his way to being an adult. The ministry here is a blend of the business represented by the business papers in the front seat and the "coolness" and relevance of the ministry I hope to birth within the context of popular culture. He saw me go into a business because I AM going into a business, but a businessman isn't my true role/function/passion, the minister part of me is and that's why we got into the vehicle and it wasn't really me in the store.

Me talking to him is me acting in the role of father and spirtual advisor to my son as we journey together in business and ministry and I help him get a leg up on his journey after leaves my home as a young man. He can't remember what I said because they're words I haven't spoken yet.

Cool huh?