Dream•sync

So yeah - lots of very detailed dreams the last two nights... I'll post one and just journal the other...

I'm in an old house... and now it's a college dorm room - it changes just as I determine it's a house. My parents are moving me in, but they don't approve of the place or of the furniture. In my bedroom there is an old metal fabricated closet from the 70's that needs cleaning, so I start on it. I can see grime in the slots where the doors close and I'm working it out with a paper towel. It is gold metal with fake wood panels on the front.

I'm in Walmart - only it's like a 'science' Walmart where there are exhibits everywhere. They've brought me in as a design consultant for interactive exhibits. I'm carrying a clipboard and jotting down notes of placement and experiment type and I'm talking with someone who is walking ahead of me. They don't seem to care what I have to say about things and I can't understand why they aren't as interested in this kind of stuff as I am.

So yeah - much more visually intense than I'm describing here. On top of that I'm pretty sure that there are other parts I'm confusing with past dreams.

It's really hard to describe 'waking' up in a place that doesn't exist in the real world and feeling as if you're awake, only the colors and sounds are so much more alive. Imagine listening to your favorite song on an old tape player and thinking it's great - then listening to the same song from a high def digital recording on 7.1 Surround Sound. It becomes almost like a different song - so new and yet so familiar.

This happened to me in the past week - it was incredible the difference between listening to the song in my car (which has an excellent system) and then listening to it on my high-end speaker & subwoofer in my office. It actually brought tears to my eyes it was so much more powerful. I literally had to stop what I was doing just to listen to the song. It reminds me of what 1 Corinthians says in chapter 13 verse 12:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Interestingly, I'm studying Love as one fruit of the Spirit this week and the verse that follows that one is "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I've always found it interesting how the Lord uses my dreams to help me process things I'm learning. And no worries - I've never been one to elevate my fallen subconscious ramblings above what Scripture communicates. :)

Unfortunately the details of this dream are overshadowed by Tuesday night's dream. That one was a bit more disturbing and strange than this one, hence why I'm just journaling it and not posting. Sorry for those of you really interested in reading how my psyche processes things :)

Listening to: My 5 star playlist - right now that means I'm listening to "Beauty Hides in the Deep" by The Doppler Effect.
Reading: Stil working on 'Raising Atlantis' by Thomas Greanias. Good so far, and quite a few references to Christianity in a mostly positive way which is kind of surprising.
Studying: 'Living Beyond Yourself' by Beth Moore. Week 3: Greatest of These is Love.
FB Friends: Read it in situ here: dreamsync.blogspot.com

I know - odd title. I've just been feeling a lot like my bird feeder lately in some ways.

A few days ago I finally hung the bird feeder I got as a housewarming gift. I'd been looking forward to it for some time, mostly because I remember watching the birds outside Grandma B's big picture window and have fond memories of those times. So in the hopes of attracting my own colorful birds I hung it where I can watch from my office window.

Now I know that it would take several days/weeks for birds to find it, but I fully expected them to find it sooner than they have. So it's day 3 and so far I've had one cautious and very loud blue jay who came close to look, but didn't actually land on the feeder.

So what does this have to do with the Holy Spirit you may be asking. Well, it's obviously going to be an imperfect analogy, but here goes...

I am the bird feeder. The seed is the Holy Spirit. I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be in tune with the Lord's will and work in my life and to be used by Him to serve others - similar to how my feeder needs to be full of seed in order to 'serve' the wildlife. If it's empty, it's little more than a perch. Still functioning, but not nearly at the capacity or potential that it has. Just like me. I'm a follower of Christ - saved by grace through faith (not of works!) . Through salvation I've not only received the gift of eternal life, but the Holy Spirit as well. If I'm not filled with the Spirit I'm like an empty bird feeder. Still functioning as a believer, but lacking the power and not living up to the potential that I could be if I were filled with Him.

Again, very imperfect analogy. But aren't they pretty much all when we try to understand God with an earthly frame of reference?

So back to the 'normal' bird feeder. Have I seen any more birds? Nope. Not since that first inquisitive blue jay. That's another thing I'm learning through this - patience :)

Listening to: My 5 star playlist - right now that means I'm listening to "Formentera What (Albert Vorne) Mix".
Reading: 'Raising Atlantis' by Thomas Greanias. Archaeology, Treasure hunting, Action, lost civilizations - all the makings of a good adventure novel.
Studying: 'Living Beyond Yourself' by Beth Moore. Excellent study on the Fruit of the Spirit. It's an online course that you can do anytime and well worth it!
FB Friends: Read it in situ here: dreamsync.blogspot.com

There are so many ways the Lord works in our lives...I was just reminded again of His goodness and His perfect timing, even with seemingly little things.

As most of you already know, Mark & Pam have been working on the house next door to them in an effort to get moved in. A LOT of work has been done on that house :) I was able to see the progress last weekend and marveled at the improvements.

That said, they have finished the laying down the wood flooring and have been wanting to get the floor sealed like the floor in my Dad's cabin. A nice hard coat that protects the wood. Another project popped up which delayed things for them, and my Dad's contact for the hard coat hadn't been able to provide the information we needed. Which could have been very frustrating considering we all have our own idea of the project timeline :)

This weekend things fell into place. Monday morning my Dad had all the contact info for the hard coat dealer, and I sent that to Mark. Today Mark calls me and shares that there is only one place in NY that's currently selling the hard coat they need and they're located in Elmira.

Guess where Jeremy's service call is this morning?

Elmira.

God's timing is perfect. Even for things like hard coat sealer for a wood floor :)

FB Friends: Read it in situ here: dreamsync.blogspot.com

But before I get to that... had a great time at prayer and praise last night. Always encouraging to read scripture, pray in thankfulness and about burdens, and fellowship over snacks :)

Was going to try to grab some photos of the Perseid meteor shower last night seeing as I got home after midnight. Unfortunately is was too bright with the moon and a bit too cloudy. The stars I did see were beautiful though. I'm in Ohio tonight so I may try again.

If you're reading this on facebook, it's because I'm importing my feed. Started blogging again - read it in situ here: dreamsync.blogspot.com

and now for the dream...

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I'm at missions conference - sitting close to a screen where a DVD is playing that is showing the classic scenery of the west - I see Bryce Canyon on the large screen. THe colors seem muted to me. I look to my left where my father is sitting next to me. "I've been there" I said, knowing that he has too. I turn my head back to the screen and see an inset of the Missionary who put the promotional DVD together - he's preaching to a group at a facility in the mountain. I am impressed by the quality of the video.

I'm at the same facility I saw in the video. No recollection of how I got there, only that I am alone and it appears to be deserted. It's in a rocky valley high in the mountains, near or in Estes Park. I am standing in the valley with the facility on my left, a rocky steppe to my right, and some open area like a trail head in front of me where the small valley opens up. The facility is built into the side of the valley and open like a bunker or a food buffet on the valley side.

I walk up to the opening and find cold packs of all shapes and sizes in the stainless steel food bins when I lean into the opening. I wonder who left them, and why no one has come back to get them. I try to start collecting them to take back but realize I don't have a bag. I walk in through a door farther down to my left and enter the area with the ice packs. They are stil cold even though it's room temperature everywhere else. I see discarded food wrappers and pamphlets and wonder why the ministry would have left all their trash up here. I decide to call my father and ask him if I should pick this stuff up.

I pull out my cell and dial him, but the call won't go through. I'm surrounded by too much metal, so I exit the facility and try again. Someone answers, but I can't understand what they are saying.

I see people start to come up the trailhead to look at the facility as if it were an attraction on the trail. A park ranger dressed in green uniform and hat - the kind with the brim all the way around like a state trooper - is checking with every group he sees to make sure they have a map. If you don't have a map, you can't be in the area. I don't have a map.

He approaches me and asks if I have a map. I try to explain why I'm here without a map, and offer to buy one from him. That is acceptable, so I pull out my wallet and hand him my visa check card. He somehow has the card cover and not the card and is very confused - almost frightened - by it. I laugh and hand him the card I thought I had just handed him.

I get a map and lay it out on one of the rock outcroppings that has a flat surface. I ask the ranger about the trails, I'm looking for one in particular called 'Tenebrae'. All the words on the map are in Latin which doesn't surprise me. But the trail I thought was tenebrae isn't - it's another Latin term that isn't familiar. The map looks a lot older than the one I just bought from the ranger. The ink is faded and old, the text in all caps.

There are three trails on the map I'm focusing on - they are aligned like a combination of a Greek lambda and pi. One trail to the north heading east and west with a slight northwest slant. That one is tenebrae. The second and third head north-south - the far west one slants northeast, the far east slants northwest, but less than the far west trail. Both have latin names starting with 'tene'. I can make out letters in both.

I ask about hiking with the group on Tenebrae but he says it starts at 10:30 and it takes two hours to get there from here. He tries to discourage me from going as the trail guide leading that group is apparently really wordy and gets on people's nerves. I find it odd that the ranger is discouraging me from going on that path.

---

So then I woke up. And decide to do a word search on the terms I saw.

Tenebrae = darkness

I know this term because it was the title of a Good Friday cantata I've done with the HFC choir twice. Beautiful classically arranged cantata, focused on the somberness of Christ's death. Hence the title of 'Darkness'. Interesting that the ranger in my dream discouraged me from the path of 'darkness'.

The other two were a bit of a challenge. I went to an online Latin dictionary and just looked at the words that start with 'tene' and picked out the two most like the words in my dream. I didn't read through all the meanings first and then pick them, I just picked them based on the letter structure.

Southern trail to the west: tenenciarius = a tenant
Southern trail to the east: tenebricosus = dark

In any case the only Latin I can really claim was in the dream was tenebrae. Darkness.

And I have an idea of where this is coming from, so it's not that freaky. Still, the Latin I pulled out about 'a tenant dark' is a little disconcerting...

ok...back to reality :)