Dreams

Remember how I recently mentioned I'd had some weird dreams? Well, I've decided to share them with ya'll. I typed up a description of them in the middle of the night when I woke up and they were still fresh in my mind. Here they are, and I welcome any interpretations ya'll might have.

First dream: I’m in Germany, in some small quaint town, except it’s not really Germany because it looks more like some weird version of southern California. It’s a small, narrow street lined with shops and I’m inside one of them doing something (can’t remember what, but I’m sitting down at a table). I think somebody said something about God in a joking manner, like made some sort of insulting joke (exactly what was said I don’t remember clearly) and someone else said, “Watch it, buddy, you might get a plague sent on us,” or something like that.

The ground starts to vibrate. For a minute we all think it’s something else outside (I see something and can’t remember what it is, but I thought whatever I saw outside was the explanation for the shaking. I think it might have been a construction site). The shaking gets more intense and suddenly the entire store is quaking as though a giant is trying to push it over.

“EARTHQUAKE!” someone screams. “Get outside!” We rush out the storefront and we realize it’s all over town, the earthquake is shaking everything to pieces and people are running around screaming.

I feel a painful thud on my head and two small bricks drop next to my feet. Gotta get to cover! I see one of those storefront eaves to my right and dive under it. It’s oddly low, only high enough for me to crouch under. Thunk, thunk, thunk. More bricks are hitting the roof as they fall off the buildings.

A girl is suddenly next to me, crying and screaming. She’s my age and she’s disoriented. She’s also not under cover. I grab her. “Get your head down!” My protective instinct flares up and I pull her in close and hold her next to me, covering her head with my left hand as I duck and cover my own head with my right. Good Lord, I think. We’re doing to die. This is worse than the quake in Seattle. We’re going to die. The ground shakes harder and the bricks are now falling onto the overhang as if they’re being poured over it by a dump truck. They’re piling up around us.

I jerk awake. After a few minutes, I fall back asleep.

Another dream.

I’m in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. I know that I’m back at ASU, but it looks more like a Washington neighborhood (no palms trees or rocks instead of grass). We’re sitting at the mouth of a cul-de-sac in the neighborhood, right on the pavement. The streets leading to the cul-de-sac are packed with other students. We’ve all gathered to hear a speaker tonight that the university has arranged.

In the middle of the cul-de-sac the sitting crowd has formed a circle around the speaker, who is a pastor and a Christian speaker of some sort. I don’t remember what he’s talking about, but suddenly I look to my right and realize two of my friends are sitting next to me. The speaker starts off.

“Okay, I’m going to do something a little unorthodox here. I’m going to pick 3 of you out of the crowd, and each of you is going to pray for 15 minutes, one after the other, while I speak. Okay?”

I start doing that thing that you do when a speaker says he’s going to pick people out of the crowd unwillingly. You know, that sort of casual glancing around the room trying to avoid eye contact with the speaker while making it look natural. He picks a guy sitting to the left of me a few people away. “Should I pray out loud or silently?” he asks. He’s nervous. Everyone is confused. Why is this guy asking people who might not even be Christians to pray?

“Out loud!” the speaker shouts. The guy bows his head and starts in with quiet prayers, which I can barely hear as the speaker continues speaking.

After a while the first guy finishes and he picks me second. My blood freezes. Oh dear God, I think. This is going to be so embarrassing. My friend looks at me, stunned, as if to say, You’re not actually going to do this?! I just bow my head and start in, thankful that at least the preacher guy is talking over me and this isn’t as public as it could be.

But then he stops. The speaker deliberately stops so that everyone in the entire neighborhood me can hear me praying. I forget what I was praying about, but it was so unbelievably embarrassing for me to be praying out loud like this in front of all these people! I remember the preacher scoffing at certain points during my prayer, as if the things I was saying were ridiculous. Why is he making me do this? Is there some sort of lesson in this?

I open my eyes. The street is empty! Where did everyone go??? I’m so confused. Just a few moments ago everyone was here! I stand up, totally confused. Although somehow I know (you know how in dreams, sometimes you just KNOW stuff, as if it’s a given) that the university is outraged at the preacher’s material and has ordered him to leave. The students are also angry. Apparently he’d been pushing some buttons.

Suddenly, I hear a roar in the distance. It’s a dinosaur, I can tell by the sound. Then a chorus of screams. Fear and adrenaline spike. What is a dinosaur doing in suburbia?

I start running down the street, back to the main road, and I see a small crowd of people in front of me, who are still leaving the neighborhood as well. So it must not have been long ago that the neighborhood was vacated. Another friend of mine is among them.

“Hey!” I yell, “What the heck is going on??”
She turns around. “He’s crazy! He’s gone completely crazy, that preacher guy! I can’t believe you actually believe him!” Then she just turns and keeps walking. I’m dumbfounded. Believe him? What?

My friend calls over her shoulder. “Just get out of town, Matt! Just run! He’s dangerous!”

I get home, and I run into the preacher guy. He’s younger now, he’s my age. I’m apparently not the least bit concerned that he’s in my apartment with no explanation.

“What’s going on? I hear roaring and screaming!” I ask him.
He smiles mischievously. “The Lord has turned me into a tyrannosaurus rex and I’ve been terrorizing those who didn’t take Him seriously!”

Now I’m REALLY confused. And scared. The preacher smirks and goes back outside. A few moments later I hear another roar, louder than ever (it’s right outside my door) and more terrible screams. What is going on?

Some other scary stuff happened, but I don’t remember what it was at this point, I just remember I was terrified. Then I woke up. I've had some weird dreams, but nothing ever as weird as those. I see a common theme in both of them but I'd like to know what you guys come up with as far as interpretations.