I Had A Dream

Sunday morning between 5:50 and 6:10 AM, I had a dream. I know, because that's when I woke up and looked at the clock, waiting for my alarm to go off.

In my dream, it was Spring, the Sunday after Mother's Day; beautiful, like this past weekend. The Carpenter's Shop was again meeting outdoors on Sunday mornings, only this time it was not at the pastor's home but behind an old church building at the intersection of a residential community. We must have met early because the church allowed us to use their grounds and to pull folding chairs from their basement to sit on.

On this morning, Laura and I pulled into the parking lot. I carried a cooler of soft drinks and water in the back of my car, and while I went around back to open the car, Laura went over to say hello to Katy and Russ. Shelly brought over some pans that were left over from our last cookout, and we began to talk waiting for our other members to show up.

It wasn't long before one of our infrequent visitors showed up; and I thought that I'd better go get more chairs from inside the church since our crowd was almost doubled with the new arrivals. A large family can do that to our small congregation. The visiting family had brought along Chris Kisgen, a former member of our praise band. Chris had a violin with him - although I didn't know that he knew how to play one.

When I came back with the first load of chairs, we had more new arrivals; but these were people I'd never met. A couple of guys helped me bring out more chairs, and still more people were showing up. Tired and thirsy, I thought about getting a soda from my cooler, but realized that there weren't going to be enough drinks for everyone who'd already shown up. So I pulled out a dollar bill and inserted it in the soda machine located outside the back of the church. I reached in and pulled out my soda, turned around, and there was a line of people waiting their turn to buy sodas. The man directly behind me was Hispanic. We smiled in greeting, then I walked over to find Jimmy or Shelley to see if they knew where all these people were coming from.

As I rounded the corner of the church, I saw maybe a hundred people milling around waiting for the worship service to start. My first thought was that there were nowhere near enough chairs for all these people. Most of us were going to have to stand. I began walking towards Jimmy when I thought I recognized Freddie Watkins and his wife; but upon getting closer I realized that though they looked like the Watkins', these too were strangers. In fact, a lot of the people that I saw looked vaguely familiar but as I looked closer they were all indeed strangers. And the crowd continued to swell.

There were so many people, I was having a hard time finding any of The Carpenter Shop crowd (if we can be considered a crowd). While looking around for someone I recognized, I heard a violin tuning up. Turning around, I saw Chris Kisgen and behind him were six to eight guys, each carrying a stringed instrument. The leader was a tall, stern fellow who appeared to be one who expected perfection from his musicians. Of course, being built the way I am, my next thought was that I hope these guys don't expect us to be able to take up much of a collection from The Carpenter's Shop gang. I hoped they were doing this as a ministry, but it bothered me that we couldn't support ministries because of our small crowd. I guess I wasn't counting on the visitors chipping in - it's just the way I dream.

I listen for awhile until the ensemble is tuned and then Chris begins to play the most beautiful melody on his violin. The strings come in and I'm listening to the equivalent of the Philharmonic Orchestra! These guys are awesome and the music sounds as though we're inside a perfectly balanced accoustical music hall.

Turning, I see a large group of Hispanics standing at the back along the treeline. A group of Caucasian men stand near the string band. We listen and then people begin to sing along to "I Need Thee Every Hour". And as I listen, I realize that the singing is just as beautiful as the music! In fact, it's the most beautiful choir that I've ever heard.

"I need Thee every hour
Most precious Lord;
No tender voice like thine,
can peace afford."

The voices rise, and I wander around to the front of the church and witness now two or three hundred people, lining the sidewalk four to five deep, singing:

"I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee"

And I think, "This is powerful! People can hear us for blocks! We're going to wake the neighborhood!" "Fantastic!"

"O bless me now my Savior -
I come to Thee"

Everyone is singing, and still more people are coming. We're now lining the sidewalk from the corner, up the hill in front of the church and out of sight over the hill. On the opposite side of the intersection, people have begun filling a vacant lot. These people knew to bring their own chairs - but everyone was standing and singing,

"I need thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need thee;
Every hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my Savior-
-I come to Thee."

The singing fades, but the instruments continue to play. The leader of the group quotes a verse of scripture and a new song begins, one I've never heard of but apparently we all knew it in my dream. It too is beautiful. "I think to myself, where did all these people come from? How did they know to be here?" A voice answers and says, "They're here because they heard about The Carpenter's Shop".

"Really?", I think. "Just for what we're doing?" "Yes" was the reply. I'm looking around at hundreds of people, and get this impression that some of these people are here because they heard about us and wanted to be part of what we're doing. Others had heard and just wanted to be part of the experience. Still others didn't know what had drawn them here, but they wanted to be where God was moving and today He was here in front of a church that wouldn't open it's doors to TCS. And I wondered, "Who's showing up at the other churches in town today? Everyone is here!"

The music was so beautiful and so powerful that I didn't have time to worry about enough drinks, or enough chairs, or whether Jimmy was going to be able to deliver a sermon equal to the praise these people were giving. I just wanted to be part of it, so I burrowed my way through the crowd to the front row. Beneath my feet, the sidewalk was crumbled and grass grew in the cracks. Across the way, the houses were older and less affluent. The people around me were wearing the best they had - some in suits, others casual. And we smiled at one another. They didn't know me and I didn't know them, but I knew that these were brothers and sisters I'd spend eternity with.

I remember that I didn't feel special to be part of The Carpenter's Shop; I felt special to be there that day and to be part of what God was doing. For miles, our voices carried; and passing cars stopped and people got out and joined us. And the last thing I remember is a teenager approaching down the street and calling out to me, "Hey, do you know where I can get a seat?" I yell back, "You'd better bring your own!" And I woke up and looked at the clock and read 6:10. It was one of those dreams you don't want to awaken from.

This dream was the most spiritual experience I've had in more than a year. I got up, showered, got dressed and headed off to Rex Hospital to meet Laura for her cat scan. From the time I backed out of the garage until I was two miles from the hospital, I remember nothing of the trip. In twenty minutes I'd driven from Butner to Raleigh and must not have encountered the first red light. All during that time I'd replay that song, "I Need Thee Every Hour". It was my worship yesterday morning.

A lot of the symbology in that dream hasn't been lost on me. The lack of a church home, the emptiness of a church building, strangers united for a common purpose, the way six or eight musicians could sound like an entire orchestra; my focus on the trivial when something much bigger is going on......

And wouldn't you know it? When I get to church, we end up talking about some of the same things I'd dreamed! The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways. I'm truly looking forwards to the time He draws crowds to TCS because of what we're doing for Him.