DREAMS.

Written During a Management Shift @ the Englefield Green 24-7 Prayer Room
[early a.m. tuesday]

Throughout the last 2 weeks, I feel as if God has been ‘forcing’ me to dream dreams. As I write this, I’m laying over some scribblings of the verses in Joel about the Spirit being poured out on all people. Sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men will dream dreams. Young men will see visions. I’m convinced that 24-7 is just a bunch of dreamers. But that’s not the end of it. They act on their dreams. And God is working. The following dreams are dreams I’ve heard of in the last two weeks. Dreams that have taken flesh and blood. Dreams that are living and active.

#1 KELLY GREENE::boys town, mexico::
I’m still a bit shocked by this one. Primarily because it seems too perfect. Here’s a young woman who first visited this border town in Mexico a couple years ago. She realized the desperate call for help, knowing that someone else should GO. Not her, though. She’s now been praying for nearly two years. Boys Town is a walled-in area outside downtown where drugs and prostitution are completely legal. Darkness. But, there has been a breakthrough. In the midst of discouragement (after 1 ½ years of prayer walking), Kelly felt the call to dig in. Lives are now being changed. Women are getting out. What began as a dream for a prayer room has turned into so much more. There are currently children within Boys Town, heaps of them, who never come outside. In hiding. Their mothers, caught in prostitution, are afraid that the government will take them away and place them in orphanages. Never to be adopted back. So they go on hiding. As their mothers go to ‘work’ each night. Kelly’s dream? A home and arts school for these children. Kelly claims that she isn’t artistic, yet knows that every little girl wishes to be a ballerina or a singer or painter one day. Kelly wants to have a place where these children can go at night. A hot meal. A warm bed. The arts in the morning. And then back to their mothers for the day. This dream is not far off. There’s a building in sight. Lives for these “outcasts” will soon be transformed. Kelly is now seeking out a team to come and mold the lives of these children. Artists. Musicians. Dancers. Teachers. Doctors. Anyone.

#2 INVISIBLE CHILDREN::northern uganda::
I ordered the DVD over the summer, only to receive it a few days before leaving the States. I had heard many positive comments about this organization. I finally saw the story for myself a couple nights ago. Talk about a need for justice. Countless children are being captured by the ‘Lord’s Army.’ This is a group, supposedly rooted in witchcraft, whose hope is to overthrow the governement. So they steal away the children. At a prime age. And train them to be soldiers. Desensitize them to death and murder and shooting. Each night hundreds…thousands of children leave home and go into hiding to avoid being captured. Crammed quarters. They are the ‘invisible children.’ They have seemed to been forgotten. But, 3 college guys from California found them a few years ago. Their vision? To tell the story of these children. In the last 3 years these 3 filmmakers have let their documentary spread like wildfire. Compassion is key. The world must do something about these children and this ‘army.’ People must respond.

#3 SCOT & FAMILY::somewhere in europe::
On Sunday night yet another pilgrim arrived at our home in Egham. This man’s story is crazy. It’s a radical story that inspires. A year and a half ago, Scot, along with his wife and 2 young kids, drove off in their VW campervan named ‘Harry.’ They had felt God’s call to obey his Word and leave everything to follow after him. They quit their jobs. Sold their house. Leaving them with only what would fit in the campervan. For Scot, that meant giving away his most prized possession: his music collection, consisting of 600-800 CDs. So, off they went. No clue where. Driving away with servants’ hearts. Willing to do anything. Even if that meant “cleaning toilets and setting up chairs.” Harry has been around Europe. A week here. A week there. They’re following God. The van is striped in purples and pink. All over it lie the handprints of people they’ve met on their journey. The lives that have been touched. The prayers that go with them. At the moment they’re renting a home in Macedonia, where they will be staying for 5 months to help with a church plant. After that? Who knows. Maybe a mobile community to travel with. Teams to join them for a week or two and serve. Another dream written on someone’s heart. But it didn’t stay there and die. Scot says that this dream nearly faded away. Distractions. Jobs. Homes. Children. The trap. But they chose to break free. “Leave everything and follow after me.”

So, what does this mean for me? I pray that my dreaming would increase throughout this year. How much more exciting is a life led by visions? A life drenched with the Spirit’s dreams. That is my hope. May God speak to me in these ways. Vision. Most of all, though, may I not let these dreams die. I pray that they give me glimpses into my Creator’s heart. I pray that I may have the strength…the drive…the desire to carry through.

These are the last days.