The World According To Chris Brewer

I had another weird God-oriented dream last night. I think God’s trying to freak me out or something.

This is all the dream consisted of:

I went into a church full of people I didn’t know, but there were no pews, only hospital beds. You could tell who the pastor of the church was–he wasn’t preaching, but instead going from bed to bed talking with people one-on-one about Jesus and the message of salvation. All the hospital beds were full and there were church leaders bringing in more people than the church could hold. I walked through each row of beds and saw that each person was injured in pretty gruesome ways. Some were missing arms, others had blood spurting from their throats, and still others looked like they had been crushed. And here were all these church staff bringing more people in.

I saw one person stationed at each bed not treating the person, but rather telling them about Jesus and what He could do for them. As I passed by one bed, I saw an older woman with her head wrapped, lying there with someone telling her Jesus can restore a relationship gone wrong. A young boy in another bed, missing his right hand from the wrist up, was listening intently to another person tell them that his parents’ recent divorce was not his fault. On my way out of the sanctuary I saw a teenage girl run in screaming, bleeding from a gaping head wound, screaming for help because she was pregnant and her parents had kicked her out of the house.

I stood there as she ran past me and began to sob…I never imagined a church being like this, I thought.

I walked out of the sancutary, into the foyer, and saw a bunch of kids standing there. To my amazement, they were singing a song as they looked into the church:
“In the presence of Jehovah
God almighty, Prince of Peace.
Troubles vanish, hearts are mended
In the presence of the King.”

I was stunned to see these kids just repeat this chorus over and over. As I walked back out into the parking lot of the church, I saw people being escorted back into their cars and waved goodbye by the church staff. It finally dawned on me after I saw about five people leave like this, that they had been healed and were leaving the church, er, hospital or whatever you want to call it, and going home completely well.

As I drove home, I stopped at a gas station to get a bite to eat. No one was there, it was a small rinky-dink place on the side of the road, owned by an older man who was pretty quiet. I bought some chips and while I was waiting for my change, the man wrote something on the back of the receipt. When I got back to the car, I read what he had written and I started shaking.

It read, “Now it’s your turn to act. Step up.”

That’s about it for the dream. And I know exactly what it means.

For me, it was a direct, personal call from God to get with the program and minister to my friends that have needs. I have more to offer spiritually than I give at church (or in life in general), and I need to step up.

Corporately, God is calling our churches to be like hospitals, places where people who are hurting spiritually, mentally and emotionally can come and be healed. Each one of us, like the people stationed at each bed talking to each person about Jesus, has been called to minister to the hurting. The injuries described in the dream were not actual physical injuries, but rather emotional, spiritual and mental needs one had. The only way the people described could be healed, is by God working and ministering grace through each of us.

We need to heed the call. We have people in our very midst who are hurting and we need to take time out to help them. It’s what church is all about in the first place.