July 13, 2013
What is going on here!? Thoughts entered my head as questions that my mind could find no answers for.
CHAOS.
Chaos trampled through the city, devouring everything in it’s sight. I watched helplessly. My body reacted quicker than my mind, and I ran.
Except I didn’t run away from the chaos that pursued me, but towards it.
To my left, dead bodies were strewn about the streets and sidewalks. Men and women in their business attire lay face-down, flat and motionless against the pavement, briefcases still clutched tightly in their grasp.
To my right, more dead bodies.
The beat of my heart began to quicken as I continued to take in the devastation before me.
I looked ahead and kept running. Blood curdling screams pierced the confines of my heart and soul as the people around me watched friends, co-workers, strangers, and loved ones drop like flies. Tears stung my eyes and beads of sweat formed around my hair line.
URGENCY.
A sense of urgency shook me to my core. I kept running. For a moment, images of panicked news reporters on TV screens flashed before me.
BREAKING NEWS
“The city is in ruins. What is happening?!! Bodies are dropping dead without cause, and buildings continue to crumble!! Nobody knows what is going on!”
As quickly as they came, the images disappeared, and I was back in the midst of the chaos. The buildings that once surrounded me were nothing but rubble and dust now impairing my vision. Flames of fire started to awaken among the piles of waste.
What is happening!! I have to find someone. Anyone!!
I made my way to the city’s skyway system. Through the smoke and dust my eyes slowly laid hold of a shadow emerging before me.
One standing skyscraper. The last one for miles. Standing tall in the center of the city. Only one skyway could access it.
Again, I ran. This time, others were running as well. But they ran away from the building, arms flailing in panic and unmistakable terror erupting in ear-splitting screams from deep inside their chests. I ran against the crowd towards the building, just as afraid, but not for my own life. I was determined to reach the skyscraper before it fell.
As I approached I could make out a handful of people left inside the last building. They were stuck, watching the destruction of the city through the windows with terror. Would they survive? They didn’t know.
I picked up my pace. I have to get to them.
“Jess!!!! JESS!!” a familiar voice distinguished itself above all the noise.
I turned around. It was the face of my mom, but the voice of God. “You NEED to tell them about Jesus!!! Tell them about JESUS!!!”
Suddenly, I understood my mission. I turned back towards the skyscraper and took off in a sprint.
BOOOOOOM.
A deafening clap of thunder awoke me in my bed. I opened my eyes. Darkness.
I sat up instantly, out of breath and not yet familiar with my surroundings. I cried out.
God, what was that?! Why were the people dying!
SIN. The people are dying in their sin. The response came simultaneously with my question.
I fumbled for the lamp on my nightstand.
Click.
Still dark. The power lines must have been struck.
I grabbed my phone, desperately reaching for anything that would give light.
3:59 AM.
My alarm was set for 4 AM. I was flying to Georgia for WR training camp that morning. Bright flashes of lightning illuminated my room as I scrambled to get my things together in the darkness. Unable to see anything else, the images of my dream replayed in my mind, searing deep into my memory.
Some Months Later
I like Minneapolis. It’s a good city, a great place to live, a great place to raise your family. But that night last summer, in an intensely vivid dream from God, I watched it and it’s people end in destruction.
I brought it to Him, in faith, trying to make sense of the vision. I knew He had given me this dream for a reason, but I wasn’t sure what He was asking me to do with it. It was only recently that I felt it put in my spirit to share what He has shown me through it.
This city is not your home. This city will not last forever. The things of this world will be destroyed with my coming. How tightly the people of the city hold on to their things… But you are NOT of this city.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
The people left in the skyscraper. They know me! They know the truth. But they’ve let the world get a hold of them. They are torn between me and the world. One foot in, one foot out…to whom will they devote their hearts?
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:15-21
The people fallen dead on the street. They heard about me, but they did not believe. They hardened their hearts, they trusted only in themselves. They knew of me, but had no time for me.
“Therefore every one who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27
I showed you this because I do not want it to end this way. I am jealous for my children, I desperately long for them to turn toward me.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
We have a choice. A choice to follow Jesus, or a choice to stand still.
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
To which city do you belong?
“Seek ye first the Kingdom.. and all these other things shall be added unto you. Infinite comfort in the second part; inexorable demand in the first.”– A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
