Monthly Archives: February 2023

Saved by jungle cats

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Tuesday 28 February 2023

Dreams overnight:

I was in the barrio, it was warm and all around was music and people speaking Spanish. There were beautiful old cars slowly driving by in both directions, the chrome and fenders sparkling.

Suddenly I was pulled back from the street and into an area of thicker vegetation, overhanging trees, tall grasses and bushes. A large snake appears, python-size, slowly moving towards me. From the trees overhead, two powerful jungle cats leap down; one was jet-black, panther-like, one was tawny with dark markings. They pounce on the snake, clawing and biting it, and it whips around, fleeing for its life.

Dreams of a getaway

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Sunday 26 February 2023

Dream recall:

I was at a huge military, government, intelligence facility, many people were in uniform. There was tremendous activity – not excitement, but something much more serious. On the runway, a massive aircraft had been loaded and was getting ready to take off, moving down to the end of the tarmac.

It was some sort of a “doomsday” bomber, carrying a weapon which would completely terrify everyone. As it thundered towards us, lifting off and roaring overhead, I heard the Lord say:

            That will come to nothing and will not be used.

The big plane was a bomber, and I could just barely see that not very far down the runway, another craft was being readied for the “flying command post and communications”. Again, I heard:

            That is of no consequence.

Any more thoughts of the “doomsday” things vanished like smoke.

Then many other commercial planes began to queue up and take on people who were getting out of the buildings as quickly as possible. Inside, there was a frantic scrambling to get out, but any classified documents and materials had to be left behind. There were lines of people going through checkpoints, leaving their documents and running for their planes.

Yet not everyone was running away. In the main open area of the building food stations had sprung up, and an impromptu band was playing dance music. There was no fear as people were happily eating, with laughter and animated conversations everywhere. Without any panic, plans were being made for leaving the facility, going home. I hadn’t yet thought of how I was leaving, but began to make my way out with the crowd.

I got to a checkpoint and was stopped. In my hands was a stack of documents, all with high classification markings. Suddenly, someone I knew, someone I had worked with, appeared behind me and said “Don’t worry, I’ve got something better! Leave that stuff and come on!”

I simply dropped the documents, and was led out of the building. We went down a long set of stone stairs, and out to an open parking lot. There were a number of small, white vehicles, but they seemed to be excited and animated, almost alive.

“Only a few of us know about these, they’ve been secretly developed. They don’t use any gas, they’ll take you wherever you want to go, and they’ll go through anything. You’ll see! There’s a set of cutters in the back for chain link fences, but I don’t think you’ll need them!”

Out of nowhere, Judith and Anne were with me, and the three of us jumped into one of the little cars. There was a happy safe, energetic feeling as we drove off. The little vehicle began to take on an animated, protective creature-like persona. It was our friend and it loved us. We got to the perimeter of the base, and drove parallel to the fence, looking for a gate or opening, but there was nothing but endless fencing. I said, “I’ll just cut an opening right here and out we go.”

I was using the cutters to make a small vertical opening through some of the fence, when I heard the little car behind me say “That’s plenty big enough. Let’s go!” It simply pushed its way through the fence, and suddenly we were driving through the woods, following paths and openings through the trees. We easily made our way through the forest until we got out on a highway, and then were in a line of traffic, heading for the countryside.

After a few moments, we found ourselves at the head of a line of other cars and trucks and up ahead was a large ferry which would take a load of vehicles across the water to the other side. We were supposed to go across an open bay or very large lake.

But directly in front of us, something like a wall or barrier shot up, about 4 of 5 feet high, blocking the way. At first, I thought an earthquake had caused the ground to shift like this, but I realized that some enemy had made it happen, trying to stop everyone from reaching safety.

With total confidence in our car, I said, “Everyone ready? Watch this!” I simply pushed on the “Go” pedal and the car climbed up vertically over the wall, knocking it flat in the process! Then we were free, moving onto the ferry. Behind us, all around us, I heard cheers and honking as the stream of vehicles poured over the flattened barrier and onto the waiting boat.

A Hard Rain’s a-gonna Fall

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Friday 9 December 2022, revised 8 February 2023

[Music in my ears upon waking: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, Bob Dylan; and an hour later: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”, Credence Clearwater Revival]

I took it as very serious when the Lord put two songs about rain in my ears, so I read through the lyrics of Dylan’s classic. Written in the summer of 1962, it was first performed live on September 22, exactly one month to the day before President John Kennedy appeared to the American people on national television to announce the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

“A Hard Rain” is perhaps one of the most quintessential protest songs/poems ever penned, it is Dylan at his lyrical, poetic, prophetic best: crying out for justice and truth, and calling down lies, censorship, and tyranny.

Here are the last four lines from the last verse; even though it was never explicitly about Christian faith, one could substitute “sharing the Gospel” here, and it would ring loudly true today as when it was sung in 1962:

“…And I’ll tell it, and speak it, and think it, and breathe it
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinking
But I’ll know my song well before I start singing…”

In ways that were never corroborated, Dylan’s song had always been linked to President Kennedy (“Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?”). Then the Lord, who has been talking to me for months about war, and a war-time footing, and the cost of war, led me on to read JFK’s complete address to the nation from October 22, 1962. He was 45 years old, facing perhaps the most existential threat of our times, leading a nation into what could have been armed conflict with the Soviet Union.  The urgency of the situation, the demand for almost immediate action meant there was really no way to “negotiate” – there was only time to act.  The evidence in his hands of a true “clear and present danger” led him to speak directly to the nation, to every American that would live or die together as a result of his actions.

This was not a time for subterfuge or theatrics, nor party politics or political correctness. Our nation was under direct threat, and it had to be stopped.

As you read through some of the direct quotes from JFK’s speech below the Lord is pressing on me quite firmly to substitute the words “bioweapon virus attack” and subsequent “vaccine attack” on our nation as the existential threat of our times. The parallels are too striking to be waved away and ignored.

“… Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation’s security to constitute maximum peril. [Nuclear weapons] are so destructive and [ballistic missiles] are so swift, that any substantially increased possibility of their use or any sudden change in their deployment may well be regarded as a definite threat to peace…”[1]

“… But this secret, swift, and extraordinary buildup of [Communist missiles] … this sudden, clandestine decision to station strategic weapons for the first time outside of Soviet soil–is a deliberately provocative and unjustified change in the status quo which cannot be accepted by this country, if our courage and our commitments are ever to be trusted again by either friend or foe…

“… The 1930’s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war. This nation is opposed to war. We are also true to our word. Our unswerving objective, therefore, must be to prevent the use of these [missiles] against this or any other country, and to secure their withdrawal or elimination from the Western Hemisphere”

With all that in mind, it is imperative that we come together as one people, one nation, to pray for leaders with the courage of 1962 to come forth and address our nation once again. Leaders that will address this nation with real, complete honesty and transparency, in selfless service to the people whom you serve.

What’s that you say? We don’t understand all the complexities, all the deals and agreements already made? We don’t understand the potential disruption caused by complete honesty and transparency? Try us, or get out of the way. Accept the cost and look us in the eye when you speak truth.

Do you or don’t you believe or understand or even acknowledge the war we are in right now? Do you know or understand or want to address the existential threats we are facing? Will you or won’t you acknowledge God as Lord of all creation? Or will you continue to spew cowardice and self-promotion and divisive politics?

It’s time now, or else a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

[1] Radio and television report to the American people on the Soviet arms build-up in Cuba, 22 October 1962, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/041/JFKPOF-041-018

Spiritual eye contact

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I wrote this on October 12th of last year, but the Lord had me hold it and think about it and pray about it. Now is the time, today is the day, and I answer, “Yes, Lord.” Head up, eyes front.

Wednesday 12 October 2022

I have just read a beautiful word from Wanda Alger about childlike faith, about the Lord Almighty speaking not to our adult selves, but to the child within us. This memory comes flooding back to me:

I am 14, playing in a high school basketball game in Tempe, Arizona. It’s late in the game and there’s a jump ball at midcourt. It’s very loud, everybody’s yelling, whistling and calling out in Spanish and English, guys are pushing and jostling for position. I’ve gotten around the circle so our basket is behind me, and in my peripheral vision I know my guy isn’t covering me closely. Everything begins to move in extreme slow motion, all sound seems to fade, and I make eye contact with our big guy who’s going for the jump ball.

His eyes make the slightest flick toward our hoop, and in that instant of time I know with exact confidence what’s going to happen. He’s going to get the ball and whip it to me, because I’m heading to the basket full speed. There are no words, no play we called, nothing we yelled out in the sideline huddle. Yet that eye contact and imperceptible movement said everything silently, and I heard it perfectly in silence.

The ref begins to toss the ball up and my feet are already moving. The ball comes in a beautiful arc, over my shoulder and perfectly timed to reach me in full stride. An easy, wide open layup to win the game. If it had been loud before it felt deafening then, in a swirl of players, coaches, students and parents. But I’m only looking at my big teammate on the other side of the crowd and make eye contact with him again to transmit some unspoken words: “I heard you, man! What a great pass!” and hear him in return “I knew you were open, and you wouldn’t miss it.”

Now is that time again, it feels chaotic and noisy and so many things seem to be hanging in the balance. We’re not in a basketball game but in a spiritual war, where the sides are very confused, calling out for attention in more ways than our ears and hearts can receive. It’s not clear who’s on what team, it’s not clear where the goal is, even as we know what the goal is: complete victory, complete Peace, complete wild joyful celebration of God’s rescue, of his Kingdom come to us on earth.

I don’t know or care how much time is on the clock or what the scoreboard says, I’m just looking for eye contact with Jesus because that’s all it takes to hear, see, know what the next play is, what he wants me to do. Am I on defense, Lord, guarding and blocking? Do you want me to have the ball, to dish it out? Do you want me to score? This is not a game where win or lose we all clean up afterwards and get ready to play another one. It’s a spiritual war against an enemy with no rules or constraints, an enemy for whom winning means killing us, destroying our nation, tearing our hearts and souls away from God. There’s no court or field we’re fighting on, no recognized boundaries, nothing is ‘out of bounds’ for this enemy. There are no observed ‘rules of engagement.’ Most of us have never been in such unrestricted warfare.

Lord, I know if we’re with you we’re winning because the victory is already yours. I know because it’s my 14-year-old boy who is making eye contact with you. I know it’s you who will silence the noise, direct your warriors, orchestrate the flow of battle. It’s only with your eye contact that we can keep fighting, in spite of the killing and destruction all around us. I know that all the words you have been pouring into me about seeing, looking, observing, eyesight, vision, perspective are all pointing to this fundamental battle-order: that we keep our eyes on you because that’s our spiritual communication channel. That’s the communication line that the enemy tries to do anything to break.

When you ask me,

            What do you say my Kingdom looks like?

I know you are pointing me towards every piece of scripture that deals with blindness, deafness, lameness, of saltiness, of keeping every bit of our senses tuned and turned directly to you. That’s not just eye contact, Lord, that’s “I contact.”