Tag Archives: fear

Following Jesus in a Stranger Danger World







Nightmares and Praises

I recently had a horrible dream. It was the night before a new treatment started and over a series of very odd events in which scenes were short, intense, and highly charged. In very quick succession I experienced paralyzingly fear, violent rage, crushing grief, and generally amounts of confusion. And then the strangest thing happened.

In the final part of the dream, there were dozens of people in hospital gowns awaiting radiation treatment. With each patient there were one or two family members or friends. Then we were in some sort of assembly. I was by myself, barely aware of what was happening as I was totally depleted and hopeless. And then one man began to sing a song of worship.

As the song began I wasn’t really aware of it, and the crowd began to join in. Then I found myself quietly joining in with a harmony line. As we sang I felt my spirit return, lifting me back up, and calming my emotional wounds. The worship reached a huge climax with the same man leading.

In the silence, I began to sing a simple prayer of hope. The very act of the worship had led me back to hope.

I often have very vivid memories of my dreams, and this day was no exception. The events and images from the first part of the dream continued over the next couple days, and yet as much as they were disturbing to me, the hope remained. This can be the power of worship and prayer in our real lives as well, and for that I am profoundly grateful to God!

The Candle of Love: Conflict and Love











Publisher HarperCollins
Released 1992
ISBN ISBN 0007152590

The Lights Are On, Are You Home?

Thanks to Creative Commons

Ever since I was a kid I thought that houses only looked inviting or alive at night with the when the lights are on.  When my husband and I were house hunting we went to see the houses with our realtor during the day or in the early evening when we were off work, but I always made a point of going past at another time later in the evening to see the house at night.  I was looking for a house that looked warm and inviting which I could only see when the light was shining out.

I think the same is true of people. Obviously you don’t have to meet a person in the dark to know what they are like, nor do they literally have windows and lights shining out of them.  You can tell, though, when you meet a person whose light is shining out.  Rather than being able to see it you can feel it when you meet a person both filled with the spirit and letting that spirit move through them and out into the world to shine for others and show them the way.

In Matthew 5:15, Jesus speaks of this light through the metaphor of a lamp being hidden under cover. “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.”  We have good in us, hopefully we are filled with the spirit, and it would b foolish to hide that under a basket or behind a façade of any type.

It is not always comfortable to be the one shining in the room.  There are many more people under baskets in our daily travels than there are people shining.  As a result, when we are faced with a situation where we feel called to speak out against some wrong being done or injustice, we may reach for the basket to protect ourselves from potential abuse for being, “naive,” or “wimpy,” or just not fitting in.  These are the times, however, that most cry out for some light.

May your light and mine shine out to all whom we meet in the coming week!