(Darrell, welcome to my blog!)

We had church at Josie’s house today. And right after a few songs—including my all time favorite, “How Great Thou Art”, Josie asked me point blank, “Have you had any dreams lately?”

Well yes. This very morning, just after dawn.

In the dream, I was building a large scale outdoor game that encompassed an area with a running stream. I built several stairways and paths to the stream on the grassy bank on one side, while the other side had a flat, layered rocky surface. Once it was complete, I gathered together the guys from our men’s meeting to show them the game.

I don’t know what the object of the game was or how it was played other than the first player, which was me, rolled a single 9-sided die. The die bounced over the stream to the rocky side, ricocheted a few times and disappeared into a sandy area at one end.

So we all started looking for the die. At one point, Darrell was nearby and I looked over my shoulder at the playing field, at the stairways and stream, and told him, “I’m really proud of the way this turned out. It looks good.”

Right about then, Darrell pointed in the sand and said “There it is.” But as he picked the die up, we could see that the die had broken into several pieces.

My interpretation: The gamefield I had built represented this blog, something I recently built and am “really proud of” (my pride usually pops its ugly head up somewhere when my writing is involved). I have worked hard at making it “look good” (not the actual appearance of the blog, of course, but the writing and the exposition of the idea that talking with God happens all the time).

And strangely, it is something that I consciously chose not to tell Darrell about in an email I sent yesterday to a couple other people, including several members of the men’s group.

Why didn’t I tell Darrell? Darrell is certainly someone I like and respect. And I have learned a lot, from him, his insight into God's nature, and his own fallible walk with God. As a father of a son, Darrell is a valuable model when it comes to trusting God with all.

But for reasons I don’t fully understand, I felt less than confident in revealing my blog to Darrell—at the time.

I believe the dream was God telling me that not only should I tell Darrell about it, but that Darrell might have valuable feedback on the content of it. Perhaps some aspect of the message I am trying to deliver is broken, like the die, and Darrell can tell me what it is and how to fix it. Darrell is very good at clarifying things for me.

A new email has been sent!

Josie had another take on the dream. Her thought was that the broken die was God saying (reminding us) that He doesn’t roll the dice. He doesn't play that way. He blesses whomever He chooses. And he chooses what/when/where and how He blesses.

Jill (with a little help from Minda) pointed out that Jeremiah 29-11 says: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

Darrell’s presence in the dream was as a representative of the Body, pointing out God’s lesson to me. Like he often does in real life.

I like Josie’s picture much better than the picture of God rolling dice to decide my life and future. And I am reminded also to be thankful that God follows His plan and not mine! So many of my prayers over the years, had they been answered my way, would have been a disaster!

God, how great thou art!