interests, ideas, and experiences

The overload of synchronicity in my life is ordinarily a welcome thing, but sometimes it takes a turn for the surreal that isn’t as easy to be excited for.

So here’s the story:  Last night, I make a post on a Facebook group Mike invited me to wherein you discuss a chapter from the Gospel of John every day up to Christmas.  Fair enough.  This was my post:

John 16: “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

I don’t think this means we can append ‘in Jesus’ name we pray’ to whatever desire we have and expect to see it granted – instead, desire to live and act and think in the Spirit of what Christ taught. Marcus Aurelius writes: “Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of him.’ Where he begs, ‘Spare me the loss of my precious child,’ beg rather to be delivered from the terror of losing him.”

Reasonable, right?  I had actually been thinking a lot about the Aurelius quote from the time I first got to Korea, so no surprise that it was on my mind.  Cut to five in the morning today.  I wake up from the following dream (this is what I wrote as soon as I got up, so it’s about as accurate as I can hope it to be):

I just woke up from a dream where I was with Nick and Jenna at a ski slope or a mountain or something.  We were leaving and having to go out a crazy tunnel.  Nick was ahead of me to the point I couldn’t see him anymore and Jenna was far behind.  I didn’t have any trouble knowing where to go, as if I were moving not by my own power or knowledge.  I was afraid Jenna would get lost, though, so much so that I was mentally noting the various twists and turns I was making on the way out of the cave.

I came to a toll but what was also clearly the scene of an accident (although no one present seemed to be even slightly phased).  The woman told me it was $75, which I thought was awfully expensive but I didn’t say anything – I just dug for money.  She asked me, “No [caddy?] today?” and I replied something like, “They’re traveling separately.”  I asked if she had seen a green truck (Nick’s vehicle) and she said she hadn’t.  Just then, Luce and Granddad were walking towards me and Luce stopped and said, “Dax, I have some bad news.  Your dad is gonna die (or is dying…I’m not sure which).  I asked where he was and Luce looked up the road and said, “On his way” or something similar.  I asked if I could leave and the woman said, “You can if you pay me $75.”  I woke up.

I’m not sure if the very first thing I did upon waking was to “beg to be delivered from the terror of losing him,” but it was in there somewhere.  I was still very uneasy, though, so much so that I texted my mom and called my dad to tell them to be careful.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio…