“The Orphan and the Wrong Door”
Right before waking one time I had a dream the I was standing outside my childhood church.
I was standing among some children playing. Somehow I knew they were orphans or needy children. One little boy (about 5 years old and small) came up to me and asked me to hold him. He said he had a stomach ache. He seemed so tired and sad so I lifted him up.
I walked into the church with him (this church I grew up in as a kid). And I saw a bunch of my friends and family there sitting down in the congregation chairs facing me.
Then, I saw a friend of mine (his family is friends with my family). He, J., and his dad were standing in the back of the sanctuary and they began walking into the foyer area. At that moment, I felt like there was something I wanted to tell them. So, carrying the boy, I walked past the people sitting to go catch them in the foyer.
I saw J. and his dad were about to head into the women’s restroom. (In this church the women’s room is on the right side of the foyer and the men’s is on the left. But I figured since they didn’t know the church that they didn’t know where it was). I told them that wasn’t the men’s room but they didn’t believe me until I pointed to the door sign. But I saw that on top of the normal women’s sign was a sign that said “men”. It was covering the original sign but when I touched it, it swung down and revealed the original “womens” sign. That’s why they had thought they were going in the right room. Someone had put the sign over the door so I removed it. I laughed and said they should look more closely next time.
J. then saw the boy I was holding. I somehow knew the story of this boy so I began to tell him. This boy has been abused and hurt, I said. I began to tell of the terrible things this boy had gone through. J. and the others around, including myself, were filled with compassion for the little boy in my arms. Around that time, I saw that he was holding a clipboard and attached to the clipboard was a single check written out. Then, he said that he was while he was originally planning on serving with the girls (I assumed during the dream that we were all at some outreach or ministry happening that day and that he must have been planning to serve with the young women but I wasn’t sure) that he was now going to go work with the little boys. In the dream I felt impacted that this little boy had influenced Josh’s decision.
J is a friend of my family. I have simply pondered this dream and prayed about it. I want to know how to ponder these dreams and to put them in the right perspective.