The human mind is an amazing thing. To quote Contact “You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares.”
And such was the case last night when I distinctly heard someone knocking on my bedroom door…inside the house. Needless to say this scared me enough to where I thought I should call family or the police. I searched inside my house frantically. I’m convinced now that it the sound of the heat going off or coming on. I never got back to sleep peacefully after that. Living alone does have its drawbacks.
And so it goes. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t buy a gun for protection. There have been some home invasions in the area and I don’t want to be counted as a satistic. Still I’m hesitatant to get a weapon figuring I would accidentally injure someone I love (including myself) rather than a criminal.

This morning’s dream put me back in my 8th grade geometry class. My teacher, who’s name shall remain nameless here, was a strict disciplinarian, even to the point that some people, like myself was apprehensive about asking a question in class for fear of being reprimanded.
The dream had be back in high school, but driving back to my junior high during math class to take this course. The kids seemed much younger than me, and the concepts we were learning didn’t make sense.
They say dreams about going back to school make one feel that they are being evaluated in real life. I’m unsure of this evaluation, whether it be in the workforce or at my church, or in general.
This disciplinarian, who was my math teacher, makes me wonder if I am not turning into the same person I feared way back then. I find it difficult to impose discipline upon my niece and nephew and to those I teach. Yet I have found that the only way they’re going to take me seriously if I am gruff toward them.

The following is a dream I had this morning just prior to waking up.
He wanted to go on ahead of us. He was a suspicious character, so our plan was to catch him in the act of hiding in the church building. We searched all over the church building for him all night long, but were unable to find him. We checked every closet, classroom, etc. At the point of not finding him, I suggested that in the future we should pay someone to hide in the building and give others the opportunity to find them. Apparently we had problems in the past with others hiding in the church building for deviant means, and needed practice finding them.
I had stayed up all night looking for him myself. Since I had pulled an all nighter I figured it must have been New Year’s. I was back at work the next day, exhausted, trying to change my voicemail. Wishing everyone a happy New Year’s Day.

There are two different dream scenerios which I am prone to have.
The first dream I’m back in school. Somewhere between high school or college or a hybrid of both. Much of time it is high school, probably because I spent more classroom time there.
Usually I’m trying to find a classroom. Unprepared for a test. Last night it was a little of both. After finally finding my class, I came in unprepared for an essay test which had a bearing on scholarship money for college. After a series of hurdles…can’t find my pencil….having writers block….I turned in a poor test essay.
They say that dreams of school, especially when you’ve been out of school for a very long time (10 years out of college for me), indicate that you feel you’re being evaluated in your personal or work life.
The second senerio has to do with church. Usually something outrageous or wrong is done or said in a public worship service (usually my home congregation). Usually nothing is said. And there I sit, expecting someone to say something…anything but no one does.
A couple of nights ago the dream was something entirely different. During a public prayer someone made reference to a rumor, which could have been considered slander. He was promptly escorted offstage.
I am not entirely clear on what these dreams at church mean, if anything. It may mean that I think something is wrong at church and I’m the only one who is concerned. Or the latter dream it could be that I’m concerned about doing something wrong for fear of spiritual retribution.

I didn’t initually remember this dream when I woke up this morning. It was a night of not being able to sleep. I looked at the clock at 2AM and then again at 6AM. I don’t remember ever falling asleep. Then later in the day, this dream hit me.
I was running away from something. The environment was a Medieval castle. I locked myself in a tower. Seemingly for several weeks or years I waited until whatever was persuing me went away.
I don’t remember much of it at all. I remember something dreadful was effecting the environment. It was necessarily horrific or groteseque. Only merely strange and it might have gotten me had I not learned to keep quiet in the room I was in for several weeks.
I wish there was some scientific way of intrepreting dreams. And yet merely even trying to pinpoint the exact feelings that a subconscious projects is almost near impossible. We can say what we *think* a dream is, but that idea might be about was useful as a divining stick in a desert.

(Jeff’s note: this is a dream I had last night)
“I didn’t know you were religous!” I said to him. After all throughout high school he never made mention of his religion, nor that he was a member of the church of Christ.
“I try not to mention it,” he said as he held a book critical of the church of Christ.
We were back in El Salvador driving around in an urban landscape trying to find the place we were staying at. And I was totally unprepared. Sure, I had brought my clothes and usual packing supplies. But I had forgotten my food, which usually sustained me throughout the week. This left me worried and anxious.
And now I look back at my real-life trip to El Salvador and find I never had a spiritual connection to those people around me. Somehow I got caught up my own digestive concerns and the filthiness of the environment, to actually notice the religious renewal happening around me. Am I a bad person for not wanting to join a group of Christians in a inpromptu song service just outside of our hotel? Absolutely not! And yet sometimes I feel those around me subtly make me feel guilty in times like those. You didn’t join us for the singing? You didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart?
And my acquaintance in high school who never spoke of his religion? There are plenty of people like that. Some people just never make mention of their religion, even though they never take part in a sinful lifestyle. Sometimes I feel as though I’m falling into that retreat of refraining from outwardly showing my religious lifestyle.

Lately I’ve been having dreams that I’m back in high school. Either I’m unprepared for a test or the teacher is being horrendously strict and I’m unable to deal with either situation.
People who interpret dreams would say I’m fearful that I’m being evaluated. Dreaming of being unprepared for a test would indicate I’m fearful that I’m overlooking something at work. I think both intrepretation could easily sum up my life right now.
I routinely think about work while I’m at home. I know I should leave my work at the office, but somehow I’m so much involved in work, that it is difficult to leave problems at work.
It’s been a while since I’ve had an enjoyable “good” dream. Instead its mostly about work or school, usually involving a difficult problem to solve or a difficult situation.
They say that if you dream about work, it’s as if you are working since your brain cannot distinguish between a work dream and work in reality. So after a night of dreaming about work, and then going to work the next day, its as if you’ve worked twice as hard day and night.

There’s that reoccuring dream I keep on having. I’m back in college. It’s around final exam time. Suddenly I realize that I’ve signed up for a class that I never took. And I might be obligated to take the final exam having never spent any time in the classroom. Sometimes its a history class. Other times a math class. Usually I’ll end up in some state of panic or distress due to it. I’m always thinking throughout, “Why did I forget to take that class?”
I’ve always tried to find some type of intepretation of my dreams. This dream is no different. I think it means that I feel like I have some type of unfinished business to do. Maybe it’s my job. I always have something hanging over my head…always having to check on that last shipment I sent out the day before.
I realize that sometimes I just need to relax and let God take over and not worry about things that I can’t control easily. But many times it is so difficult to do that. Maybe I will surrender fully one of these days.

So I had a strange dream last night. I dreamed that a certain Baptist church in MJ had built a full fledged movie theater directly across the street from their church building. It was meant to give their youth something to do, and as an evangelistic tool to the community. (This further concretes my stereotype that Baptist churches spend exhorbant amounts of money on their youth, without necessarily specifically meant to promote the gospel message. Apologies to Baptists who I might have offended with that statement).
So my friends and I decided to see a movie. Since this Baptist church movie theater was the closest theater around, we decided to go there. It was weird. The movie theater was packed. We ended up having a devotional before the movie started. The movie? Armageddon. And they had cut every potentially offensive scene or word from the movie. I didn’t really care for it. My friends and I were treated as outsiders throughout the whole experience. I guess it might have been because my friends and I were there for entertainment, while others were there for some type of worship/fellowship experience.

Last night I dreamed I just started driving. I think I made it halfway to Kansas City. Somewhere in Missouri or Kansas I saw some incredible scenery. There was a wagon sitting in a golden field. For some reason I stopped just over the hill at what looked to be a farmhouse and small store. As I walked through the store, I saw that they were remodeling. Their menu signs were laid on the counter. I laid down my camera in another room and started asking the owners some questions. As I was walking around I went back to where my camera and tripod was sitting. The camera had been knocked off and the tripod and the light filter lense had been broken. It was one of the kids who had done it. And the parents weren’t going to own up to it until I confronted them about it.
Maybe its saying that I am very protective of my camera and I’m upset when people don’t claim responsibility for wrong actions.