Dreams of Life and Death

I have had many dreams in my 30 yrs on earth. Some were wishful thinking, some inspired by the days events, others borrowed from a movie or TV show I'd seen. But a few stand out and are unforgettable. Some inspire whole books, most yet to be written (but I am working on them and the dreams are burned on my brain). Some of the unforgettable dreams say something about this life and I don't know if I'll figure it out till I meet the Lord in the eternal. I wanted to share another and also strike up a conversation about dreams and interpretations.

So here I'll testify about one of my dreams that stay with me. I had this dream the night after we had hosted a birthday party for my couzin Ashley I believe. Anyway my Uncle Pernell had just been murdered very recently (we had not even had his funeral yet.) My sister and I had picked up his 2 oldest sons and brought them to the party and one of them looks just like him and it was very bittersweet for us to see them that day. The shock and grief of my uncle's murder was upon us.

So after the party late that night I laid down to go to sleep and the room I was in was always too warm. It was like for the rest of that house to heat up that bedroom had to be hot. I laid there and closed my eyes and it seemed like the room cooled down. Then I felt like I was standing in a dark tunnel. I could here a sound like wind whistling or rushing through this tunnel. It was very dark but in the distance I began to see someone, a man coming toward me and then I realized it's my Uncle Pernell. He had on faded light blue jeans a white t-shirt and a teal jacket. The jacket looked worn also and it was the kind of jacket that had a hood tucked away in the collar. The kind you unzip and take out a thin nylon type hood.

My Uncle looked at me solemnly and asked how are y'all doing. I sort of shrugged and told him we were trying to deal. I told him that the family would look after his kids. He thanked me, nodded kind of resolutely and then blended into the darkness. He didn't turn around it was almost like he faded away. Then I was alone in the tunnel, but then something strange happened. I felt rather instantly like I was laying in bed again and in the hot room and I felt the 'weight' of my body whereas in the 'tunnel' I felt light and cool.

I opened my eyes... (rather cautiously; I was a little freaked out) and I looked at the clock and only about 15 mins. had passed. The next day I could not forget the dream. I told my sister and she told me she had a dream (the same night) that my Uncle was in her face and said her name and she freaked out and shook herself awake.

Now when I told my mom, she looked at me as if I was a ghost. My mother was the last of our family to see my uncle before he was killed. He had stopped by her house (she lived a few blocks from his girlfriend's house). He seemed paranoid and talked to her a moment and then went to his girlfriend's house where he ended up being killed within an hour or so. My mom told me that he was wearing what I saw him wearing in my 'dream'. That gave me chills.

So I don't know what it meant for me. Why I 'dreamt' it. I am not sure it was a dream, but I know that dreams had significance even in Bible times. Below is a passage from Genesis 40
Genesis 40 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
[NIV at IBS] [International Bible Society] [NIV at Zondervan] [Zondervan]

Genesis 40
The Cupbearer and the Baker
1 Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.
After they had been in custody for some time, 5 each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him in his master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?"

8 "We both had dreams," they answered, "but there is no one to interpret them."
Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams."

9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, "In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10 and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup and put the cup in his hand."

12 "This is what it means," Joseph said to him. "The three branches are three days. 13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15 For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon."

16 When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, "I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. [a] 17 In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head."

18 "This is what it means," Joseph said. "The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. [b] And the birds will eat away your flesh."

20 Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh's hand, 22 but he hanged [c] the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Seven Years Later 9/11 Memorial

Seven Years
I haven’t written this out until now. Guess it took that long for me to be able to express it in writing in a public blog such as this. In August 2000, I went on a vacation to New York City. I stayed at the Bentley Hotel in Manhattan and I had a wonderful time. It was my first time in NYC and I walked all over site-seeing. I took a couple of tours one during the day and another at night. Among the many pictures I took. I took one picture of the Twin Towers.



Soon after I returned home to Detroit I had a disturbing dream. I was in a very tall building with large windows. Inside this building, in the room I was in there were many people milling about. It was a crowd of people so thick I could not see anything but people and over their heads the large windows. I was in this place with my sister, Cat. We were talking about how majestic the building was. Then there was a panic in the crowd of people, they started pushing past me. I turned around to see what they were running from and I saw a plane outside the window. It was coming toward the window. The plane looked like this plane pictured below. (It was not a commercial plane it was a fighter jet). I turned to flee and grabbed my sister’s arm. I thought to myself, “There is no time, we are about to die”. I heard a crashing sound and people screaming and I woke up in a cold sweat.

I wrote about this disturbing dream in my journal and I told a few people about it. I never forgot it, it was vivid and horrific.

One year later, on September 11th, 2001, I woke up and went to work in Novi, MI as usual. I was working as a dispatcher at an underground utility locating company. I was battling a headache, a migraine actually. It was resistant to coffee and medicine. Along with the headache I had a sinking feeling of dread. I began my work day at 7:30AM and the headache seemed to intensify over the next hour.
I contacted one of my field techs on the Nextel to give him an emergency ticket (for a water main break or gas leak) and he asked me if we in the office heard about the World Trade Center. I asked him what about it? He said a plane flew into it and while the new was reporting that another flew into it on live TV. I dropped the Nextel and ran into the bathroom. I feel like vomiting… I didn’t need to hear details. I knew it was horrific and of course I remembered the nightmare I’d had.
I do not call myself psychic and I actually do not believe people should solicit money and ‘tell the future’. The Bible speaks against such activities.
As I watched the memorials ceremonies today I am very solemn and still pray for the families of the victims. I found a site called ‘where were you on 9/11?’ and that prompted me to write this blog.