HomeARC ML 1286
LOST LUGGAGE DREAM! 9/82 DFO 1286
1. WELL, PTL! TYJ! THE DEVIL CERTAINLY IS FIGHTING THIS DREAM! It must be more important than I thought it was, because we really had a battle to try to record it this morning! The record button refused to work on the tape recorder, the microphone refused to work, then the other tape recorder refused to work! So apparently this dream must be more important than I thought it was, because the Devil really seems to be mad at getting it recorded!
2. FIRST OF ALL, I POSTPONED RECORDING IT & KEPT POSTPONING IT UNTIL I ALMOST FORGOT TO RECORD IT ENTIRELY! I had it at least two or three weeks ago in the first part of the month & it didn't seem to be too important, although it has remained vivid in my mind as those significant dreams do. Lord help me, in Jesus' name, to remember it well.
3. THE LORD REALLY KIND OF JERKED ME UP THE OTHER DAY WHEN I WAS PRAYING in the wee hours of the early morning before getting up & awakening from a fairly good sleep. I was wondering, "How come, Lord, I haven't had any important or significant dreams lately, in fact hardly any dreams? Whatever I've had has been just something ridiculous or unimportant & so faint I can't even remember it, mostly no dreams at all!" I was sort of murmuring & complaining, "How come You haven't given me any dreams lately, Lord?"
4. AND JUST AS CLEAR AS I EVER HEARD THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT, HE CAME BACK AT ME: "BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T RECORD THE LAST ONE!" Just like that! The Lord doesn't play around with these things! When He gives you something--a dream, a message, an interpretation, a prophecy, a warning, His Word of any kind--He expects you to do something about it! He expects you to receive it, & if necessary, to record it, & to also ...
5. I DON'T THINK I EVER DELAYED OR POSTPONED TELLING A DREAM FOR SO LONG! Usually I tell it right away, either immediately after the dream or the very next morning. I don't delay more than a day or two at the most, because if I delay too long they begin to fade.
6. IT'S JUST LIKE THE VOICE OF THE LORD: If you resist it & you refuse to listen to it & you turn a deaf ear to it, it begins to fade too, & you get a little more deaf all the time. The Lord just may refuse to shout at you if you don't pay any attention to what He's already tried to say, & He's not going to keep on yelling when it does no good & you don't receive it & you don't act on it! Because when God speaks, He expects you to listen & to receive it & remember it & to do it!
7. WELL, I'M SORRY TO SAY & REGRET TO ADMIT THAT ON THIS DREAM I KEPT PUTTING IT OFF BECAUSE IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BE VERY IMPORTANT. So waking up this morning I was again wondering why I didn't seem to be having any important dreams, & again the Lord reminded me: "You still haven't recorded the last one!"
8. SO THIS MORNING I GOT UP QUITE EARLY--woke up at 4:30, up by 5:00--& decided that it was time to record this dream while I was alone & quiet & in the spirit with no interruptions. But what do you suppose happened? I got busy with this & busy with that & thought, "Well, the materials need to get ready for the next GN & I'd better finish that first. I've got to do this & that, & then I've got to see if there's anything else for the next GN." I got busy with a little here & there until the man was gone again!--Or almost gone! (1Kg.20:40.)
9. BUT FINALLY WHEN ALL THAT WAS CLEARED OUT, I PICKED UP MY NEXT PIECE OF WORK, "THE CINEMA CAFE DREAM," & boom, that word "dream" hit me right between the eyes & reminded me again: "You've not yet recorded the last dream!" It was almost like, "What's the use of giving you dreams like this when you don't even pay any attention to them, & you don't even record them & look for an interpretation so that you can pass on My messages to My people!"
10. SO I IMMEDIATELY GOT CONVICTED & LAID THIS ONE DOWN THAT I WAS PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GN, or about to, & I told Maria, "Well, I've just got to record that dream now, I can't wait any longer!"--so she prepared to do a test run with the tape recorder. We were going to use the big tape recorder, the one we still have, because she has it rigged up to where she can control it at her chair, & I have the mike at my chair, so that when we're in conferences or whenever I start spouting off any inspiration, she can quickly snap it on & record it without my being bothered with worrying about recording or even be conscious of recording.
11. BUT OF ALL THINGS, WE MADE ABOUT FOUR DIFFERENT TESTS, & FIRST OF ALL THE MICROPHONE WOULDN'T WORK! Finally on the fourth test, the microphone worked & it came booming in beautifully, so we ran it back to the beginning & she prepared to start recording, pushed the record button & it just would not go down! We checked the tape, we checked the tape recorder, we made sure we pushed the "play" button down & then the "record" button & all the various things you're supposed to do, & it just flatly refused to work!
12. SO FINALLY I GOT SO MAD I WAS ABOUT TO CUSS!--And she then, in her own sweet little patient way as she usually does with her old growly roaring lion when he gets upset, just gently chided me & said, "Well, it's the Devil! He really must not want this dream recorded!" And I realised right away that that's what the trouble was & the old boy was evidently really getting his little wedge in to try to stop it!
13. IN FACT, I GOT SO ANGRY AT THE BLOOMIN' TAPE RECORDER I SAID, "OH WELL, I GIVE UP! LET'S QUIT! FORGET IT!" But she said, "Well, that's just exactly what the Devil's trying to get you to do--quit & stop it & not record the dream! Can't you see that?" So I felt a little bit ashamed of myself & I was a little sort of conscience-stricken & admitted & confessed to her that, "Well, I guess you're right, it'd just the Devil!" So she said, "Here, why don't you take this little micro & go ahead and just do it on that." I said, OK, let's go! PTL! Give me the micro!" Well, what do you suppose happened?
14. THIS LITTLE MICRO HADN'T BEEN USED FOR AWHILE & THE BATTERIES WERE SO LOW IT WOULD HARDLY GO & YOU COULD BARELY HEAR IT! I said, "Oh my, not again! Now we've got to put new batteries in this one!" So we did, we put in new batteries, & I trust they're working fine now. We did run a little test and they seem to be doing all right.
15. SO THEN I LOOKED AT THE FRONT OF THIS LITTLE OLYMPUS PEARLCORDER & I NOTICED THAT THE CLOCK WAS WRONG, THE TIME NEEDED RESETTING. As you know, the little Olympus Pearlcorder is the very smallest microyet made. In one mode they have digits that tell you how far you've gotten on your tape & you push the mode button & it will change to the time & give you the time in a flashing digital quartz display.
16. SO I LOOKED AT IT & I SAID, "OH MY, THIS THING IS FIVE MINUTES SLOW! I guess the batteries were getting so low even the clock was slowing down, so I'd better reset the time." So then I'll bet I worked another five minutes on trying to get the time reset, fiddling around with the controls. I'd forgotten exactly how to set the time, but I finally hit it & I finally got the time set just right. And behold, another delay, & yet again the dream was postponed at least a few more minutes!
17. BUT FINALLY, PRAISE GOD, HALLELUJAH, THANK YOU JESUS, I PUSHED THE RECORD BUTTON & AWAY WE WENT & BEGAN RECORDING THE DREAM! I was just beginning to really get under inspiration & describing these events when what do you suppose happened? Dear someone stuck their head right in the door to announce that somebody was calling on the phone!--And I bawled her out & nearly bit her head off to where she almost slammed the door on it! And then I realized, after all, it was my fault because I had failed to lock the door or hang a "Do not disturb" sign on the outer door handle so nobody could interrupt me while I'm recording. She was actually not even looking for me, but for Maria.
18. SO, HERE WE GO AGAIN & I'M ALREADY ABOUT 240 DIGITS INTO THIS TAPE at slow speed, which is about 10 or 15 minutes, & I still haven't recorded the dream, & it's been weeks since the Lord gave it to me. So Lord forgive me & Lord help me, & may God help you to have patience with me as I try to recall it now & give it to you. PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
19. IN JESUS' NAME, LORD, BLESS & KEEP ME & KEEP US FROM BEING INTERRUPTED, & keep this little tape recorder working on these little tiny batteries & make it operate OK so that I can record the message You gave, & dream, & try to get something out of it, Lord, some significance or meaning which can be of benefit to Thy people & feed Thy sheep. In Jesus' name we ask Thee, Lord, to give us the victory now! Help us to record this dream that the Devil has fought so long & so bitterly, in Jesus' name. Amen! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ!
20. WELL, I CAN ONLY CALL THIS "THE LOST LUGGAGE DREAM", & that's the way I noted it after having had it the next morning. I did tell Maria that I'd had the dream & said, "Remind me, please, to tell you abut the Lost Luggage dream, or to record it"--& she said OK. And I must confess, she's been faithful to remind me nearly every day, but I've been faithfully putting it off & postponing it & proscrastinating.
21. PROCRASTINATION IS PUTTING THINGS OFF: MANANA, MANANA! Don't do anything today you can put off till tomorrow & postponing what you're supposed to do. And of course if you never do anything today that can possibly be put off till tomorrow, you'll probably never do it! It's one of the Devil's favourite weapons besides discouragement. If he can't discourage you from doing it at all, he just gets you to postpone it & put it off: "Do it some other time! Do it later! You've got more important things to do right now, do them first & do that later!"
22. WELL, OF COURSE, THERE'S NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE WORD OF GOD & HIS PRECIOUS REVELATION & HIS MOST RECENT TIMELY UP-TO-THE--MINUTE WORD--recording it, receiving it, thinking about it, trying to get the interpretation, the meaning, the significance, & passing it on to others that it might be a help & blessing to. There's hardly anything more important than God's freshest & newest & most immediate revelation--which must have something to do with something current for which you needed that particular word from the Lord!
23. SO DON'T PUT IT OFF, DON'T POSTPONE IT! Don't say, "Well, I'll do that later, Lord! I'll think about that later! I'll pray about that later! I've got too many other things to do now!"--And you get busy with a little here & there until the Word is gone, the revelation is gone, the dream is gone & it escapes you & you can't even remember what it was or what the Lord said or what it was about!
24. JUST LIKE NEBUCHADNEZZAR, HE KNEW HE'D HAD A VERY IMPORTANT SIGNIFICANT DREAM during the night, but when he woke up in the morning, for some reason or other he forgot it, he couldn't even remember it! The Devil was sure fighting that marvellous dream of Daniel 2, wasn't he? But thank God, Nebuchadnezzar was faithful, at least, in trying to remember & trying to find out what it was, so he called his wise men & asked them what it was. But they as good as told him off & said: "It's bad enough for you to expect us to interpret your dreams without having to tell you what you dreamt!" (Da.2:1-12.)
25. BUT THANK GOD, FAITHFUL GOD-INSPIRED DANIEL WAS NEAR THE SCENE, & just when the king was so angry with his wise men he was about to have them all killed because they couldn't even tell him his dream--which they felt was expecting too much of them & that he was being unfair--Daniel stepped in & saved the day & the situation & their heads, & the Lord saved the king's dream!
26. DANIEL NOT ONLY TOLD HIM HIS DREAM, BUT THE INTERPRETATION THEREOF ALSO!--Which was certainly miraculous both ways! And King Nebuchadnezzar recognised it as a mighty miracle of God, & as a result, promoted Daniel to his counsellor & realised that he was a man in whom the Spirit of God was & who could be a great help to him in advising & counselling him as a special helper to guide his kingdom. (Da.2:46-49.)
27. SO DREAMS ARE IMPORTANT! THE REVELATIONS OF GOD ARE DEFINITELY VERY IMPORTANT & GOD'S WORD IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! He says He has exalted His Word above His Name! (Ps.138:2.) We think a lot of the name of God--the name of Jesus in particular, His Son--& the Lord has told us how important it is all through the New Testament & how important is to pray in the Name of Jesus, to ask things in the Name of Jesus, to use the Name of Jesus & its power in prayer for healing. The disciples did many mighty works in Jesus' name: They baptized in Jesus' name, they did everything in Jesus' name, it was all through Jesus!
28. SO HE CERTAINLY HAS EXALTED THE NAME OF JESUS, HIS SON, & IT WAS CONSIDERED EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, & STILL IS, & WE STILL DO! Because without Jesus, we're nothing! Jesus Himself said so: "Without Me ye are nothing!" (Jn.15:5.) Without His Name in which to pray, we have no right to ask for anything. So never underestimate the power of the Name of Jesus! We've had many Letters along this line & many testimonies regarding the Name of Jesus. ( See "The Name of Jesus!", No. 345.)
29. 4 BUT HIS WORD SAYS THAT HE HAS EXALTED HIS WORD EVEN ABOVE HIS NAME! Think of that! God considers His Word even more important than His Name, more important than what you call Him!--Whether you call Him as the old Jews did--Elohim Adonai or Jehovah--or as we call Him today--God the Father & His Son Jesus--all these names are extremely important.
30. JEHOVAH IS THE OLD TESTAMENT NAME OF CHRIST (Ex.6:3; Ps.83:18; Is.12:2 & 26:4), & JESUS IS THE NEW TESTAMENT NAME. The Old Testament name in Hebrew meaning the Saviour or the Redeemer, the Anointed One, & in the New Testament, the Greek form of the name meaning the same thing: The Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Redeemer, Saviour!
31. SO PTL! WHAT'S IN A NAME?--A LOT!--IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!--Because Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. This is why the Jehovah's Witnesses--having to deal with the Jews of Brooklyn, New York--started using the name Jehovah instead of Jesus, because the Jews were offended by the Name of Jesus, having not believed in Him for 2,000 years. ... The most devout devoted Orthodox Jews & rabbis will even spit on hearing the Name of Jesus.
32. SO YOU CAN PITY THOSE POOR SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS--Later Jehovah's Witnesses--when they directed the great Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn, New York, a Jewish community of New York, a Jewish community of New York. In trying to evangelise the Jews & preach Jesus to them, they found out it was a name which was very offensive to them. That was the Man that they refused to believe & rejected & didn't receive as the Son of God, & therefore Pastors Russell & Rutherford hit upon the brilliant idea of using the Old Testament name of Christ--Jehovah!
33. AND SOME PEOPLE HAVE ALSO GONE A LITTLE FURTHER & SAID THAT THE OTHER HEBREW NAME OF GOD OR OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT IS YAHWE. (Ps.68:4.) So when I was young there was a sect who were insisting on calling God Yahwe, & by that time the Jehovah's Witnesses were going full swing insisting on calling Jesus Jehovah, in a sense all meaning the same thing. The Jehovah's Witnesses apparently got along fairly well calling Jesus Jehovah & preaching Jehovah, really meaning Jesus.
34. SO NAMES ARE IMPORTANT!--CERTAINLY THE NAMES OF GOD AND THE NAMES OF JESUS, THE NAME OF CHRIST HIS SAVIOUR, HIS MESSIAH, HIS REDEEMER, HIS SON! But nevertheless, He says He has exalted His Word above His Name, think of that! Isn't that amazing? God considers His Word even more important than whatever name you happen to call Him.
35. HE KNOWS THAT PEOPLE USE DIFFERENT NAMES & THEY CHANGE NAMES & the use of those names can change, but He has said that "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven!" (Ps.119:89) And Jesus said, "Heaven & Earth shall pass away, but My Word shall never pass away!" (Mt.24:35.) And He hath exalted His Word above His Name! (Ps.138:2.) Think of that!
36. WELL, MAYBE THAT'S WHY THE LORD LET THIS HAPPEN, JUST TO SHOW YOU & REMIND YOU & WARN YOU OF THE IMPORTANCE OF GOD'S WORD & of believing it, receiving it, recording it, if possible, & then acting on it yourself if it's for you!--And certainly if it's for others, act on it by passing it on to them & giving them the message--which I have tried to do with you for a great many years now, & usually faithfully, TTL! But once in awhile I've slipped, as I did with this one.
37. SO I ALMOST FORGOT IT & ALMOST FAILED TO PASS IT ON TO YOU, & all that little introduction is to emphasise & warn you about the importance of God's Word & His revelations!--Whether they be dreams, visions, prophecies, messages in tongues, interpretations or knowledge & wisdom He has revealed to you, in whatever way He has revealed His will & His Word to you, revealed Jesus to you, because Jesus is His Word.
38. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD! HE IS THE EXPRESSION OF GOD, PICTURE OF GOD IN A SENSE. What is a word? A word is a means of communication, right? What is the Word of God?--Jesus!--His most outstanding means of communication with us, communicating to us His own love by means of his Own Son: "The Beginning of the Creation God." (Rev.3:14.) "In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God. All things were made be Him; & without Him was not any thing made that was made!" (Jn.1:1,3.) So the Word is extremely important!
39. AND WHEN GOD EVEN CALLS HIS OWN SON THE WORD, HIS WORD TO US, GOD'S EXPRESSION TO US--Jesus, the expression of God, Jesus, the communication of God, Jesus, conveying communication of God's Love to us, Jesus, His Own meaning in His Own Son, Jesus, His Own Message--then we can begin to realise a little bit how important the Word of God is when He even calls His Own Son Jesus the Word of God, God's Own Message of Love to us!
40. SO HIS WORD IS VERY IMPORTANT, BELOVED, & YOU HAD BETTER NOT FORGET IT OR NEGLECT IT, OR IN ANY WAY FAIL TO RECEIVE IT, BELIEVE IT, ACT ON IT & OBEY IT!--And record it, if necessary, & pass it on to others, whatever God's purpose is in having given it. So PTL! Here it is. This maybe is the meaning & the reason for this whole dream, because the dream itself doesn't seem to be that important--although it was so vivid at the time that I can still see the scenes & recall the action & remember the events quite clearly even to this very day two or three weeks later, PTL!
41. SO HERE'S THE DREAM, FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, & IT MUST BE WORTH A LOT because I'm sure it was a dream from the Lord, the Word of God, & there's nothing more important than His Word. Because His Word is love. His Word is God & His Word is Jesus. His Word is everything, His Word is that important! So PTL! TYJ!
42. WELL, AS BEST AS I CAN NOW REMEMBER, WE WERE TRAVELLING ON A TRAIN. I can still see the direction we were going on the train, although I can't remember whether it was North, East, South or West. But we were going & we were with this sweet young girl that we'd met on the train, although I can't remember whether it was North, East, South or West. But we were going & we were with this sweet young girl that we'd met on the train--sort of a hippie type, typical of the young people to whom we often appeal. She evidently had been quite attracted to us by the Lord's Love & His Spirit & our Message, so that as we approached the station where we were to get off & meet some of the Family & friends, she had made up her mind to get off with us & stay with us.
43. SO SUDDENLY THE TRAIN ARRIVED AT THE STATION, PULLED IN & STOPPED. As I recall, it was a European train because they don't wait very long at those stations. They're not as slow & pokey as those American trains & they really have good schedules & go on time, & they sometimes can pull out as fast as they pulled in & only give you a few moments to get off or get on!
44. SO WE REALISED THAT THE TRAIN HAD STOPPED AT THE STATION & WE QUICKLY RAN & JUMPED OFF THE TRAIN & SAW OUR LOVED ONES WAITING FOR US! We were so happy & so excited about this girl joining us & introducing her & meeting them, that we had forgotten something, & all of a sudden she said, "Oh, my bag! I left my suitcase on the train!"
45. JUST THEN THE TRAIN WAS STARTING TO PULL OUT, SO I QUICKLY RAN AFTER IT AS FAST AS I COULD! As it was picking up speed & pulling out of the station, I ran with all my might & jumped on to the back of the train just in time to catch it & climb aboard as it began to speed off to its next destination!
46. HURRIEDLY I RAN THROUGH THE TRAIN BACK TO WHERE WE'D BEEN SITTING, FOUND HER BAG & GRABBED IT!--Thank God it was still there! You'd better not leave your bags lying around unguarded or unwatched in almost any part of the World, but it hadn't been there long enough, apparently, for any thief to get any ideas. Although some of our folks, including my own Mother, have had their bags stolen right from their side, almost from between their legs while they were buying their tickets etc.! So watch out about that! Hang on to your bag! Never take your hands off of it or your foot off of it! Squeeze it between your legs or something!
47. BUT THANK GOD IT WAS STILL THERE, so I heaved a sigh of relief, grabbed it gratefully & started carrying it to the door of the train, figuring I'd get off at the next stop & catch the next train back.
48. WELL, THE NEXT STOP HAPPENED TO BE A BIG CITY, THE SAME BIG CITY FROM WHICH WE HAD COME TO THE PLACE TO WHICH WE HAD GONE! I had arrived right back where we came from. I thought, "Well, that's good, there ought to be plenty of trains from here on back out to the village where I had left the girls & our folks. I'll catch the next train back & all will be well!"
49. BUT LO & BEHOLD YOU, WHEN I ASKED THE INFORMATION MAN WHAT TIME THE NEXT TRAIN WOULD LEAVE, he said, "Well, there are no more passenger trains going that way tonight!" By this time it was dark, night had fallen, & it was getting late. In some of those places, all the transportation closes up after 8 or 9 o'clock at night!
50. I CAN REMEMBER AROUND NICE, FRANCE, IF YOU DIDN'T CATCH A BUS BY ABOUT 8 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT YOU MIGHT AS WELL FORGET IT! You're going to get stuck with a high-priced taxi, because all the public buses stop running about 8 or 9 o'clock at night! In France the local trains usually stop running about that time, or not much later, so if you don't get one in time, you're just out of luck!
51. SO HE SAID, "SORRY, THAT WAS THE LAST TRAIN TO THAT VILLAGE! NO MORE TRAINS TONIGHT!" I said, "No, no, that can't be, I'm desperate! This girl left her luggage on that train that I just got off of from there, & I jumped on the train to find it & pick it up & I've got to go & take her bag to her! I've got to go tonight, she'll need it, & I don't want to get stuck in this town over night!"--Some kind of big city.
52. I DON'T CARE FOR BIG CITIES ANYHOW, & THEY'RE USUALLY DANGEROUS AT NIGHT! Apparently I didn't have any place to stay there or anywhere to go & I didn't know anything about it. I was alone & I wasn't about to begin to stay there all night & wait for a train the next morning! So I was fussing & fuming about it & he said,
53. "WELL, THERE'S A FRIGHT TRAIN GOING THAT WAY IN A FEW MINUTES, & you can ask the baggage man if he'll let you ride in the baggage car. Since it seems to be an emergency, maybe they'll let you ride with them." I was still lugging her lost luggage--now found, thank the Lord--& I ran the best I could to the freight train which was standing there on a side track. It had just one engine & it seemed like it had just one car, just the baggage car--which is partly baggage, partly mail--& they usually have a man in it sorting mail & checking baggage in & out.
54. SO I ASKED HIM IF I COULD PLEASE RIDE THE BAGGAGE CAR TO THIS NEXT TOWN with this girl's bag that she had lost & was very concerned about; that I was concerned about rejoining my friends & could he please let me ride back to the little town out in the country--& he finally sort of begrudgingly & grumbling consented & said OK & let me climb on. So I did.
55. IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BE VERY FAR--SOMETHING LIKE NOT MORE THAN ABOUT HALF-AN-HOUR'S RIDE--& I was so thankful & praising the Lord, thanking the Lord that I'd found the girl's luggage & recovered it & rescued it, & now I had gotten the train back to the town to where she & our Family were.
56. SO I HEAVED A SIGH OF RELIEF AS THE SLOW FREIGHT HEAVED INTO THE STATION & let me & some of its baggage off, & the girl's lost luggage. I jumped off the high baggage car out the baggage door with the suitcase, so happy to have gotten the suitcase & gotten back where we were originally going!
57. BUT THEN MY HEART SANK WITH DISMAY because I looked all around in the darkness of the dimly-lit station & the Family were nowhere to be seen--not the girl, not them, nobody! Well, I don't know why or how I could have expected them to meet me on a freight train--although they knew that I had gone back to find her luggage & had caught the train & hopefully had found it.
58. NO DOUBT WHEN THEY DISCOVERED THAT THERE WERE NO MORE TRAINS SCHEDULED THAT NIGHT to return from the big city, they had given up hopes of expecting me or waiting for me, & had not made any attempt to meet me, not knowing I was coming in--especially not on a freight train! So they were gone & my heart sank!
59. HERE I WAS ALONE & LONELY & LOST, NOT IN LONDON, BUT IN SOME LITTLE STRANGE TOWN that I knew nothing about & had only expected to apparently stay with friends or family there. So I was almost in as bad shape as I had been in the big city!--Except it's not quite as bad to be lost & alone in a small town as it is in a big city. They're usually not as dangerous, the people aren't as evil & criminal, & small town folks, as most of us know, are usually very friendly & helpful.
60. SO I AT LEAST FELT A LITTLE BETTER TO HAVE GOTTEN THERE SAFELY WITH HER BAG, her lost luggage, & I was very thankful to at least be there. So I stood there wondering what to do & how to find the Family--with whom I knew the girl must be--when suddenly I woke up! That was the last thing I remember.
61. SO OFTEN IN THESE DREAMS YOU AWAKEN AT THE MOST SUSPENSEFUL POINT OR THE CRISIS POINT when you're the most concerned or the most frightened or the most excited. You get so excited & your emotions run so high that it actually wakes you up! However, I found out that in the Lord's dreams I seldom ever wake up until God has gotten me as far as He wants me to go & that I have gotten the point & the message is clear of what ever He's trying to convey to me.
62. ONE POINT I FORGOT TO TELL YOU was when we had first arrived in this little town & the Family had greeted us there, dear Mother Eve & some of her team were there with them--somewhat to my surprise & a bit of foreboding, wondering what she was up to next & why she was with the Family there & greeting us, always being a little bit leery of some of her shenanigans! I presume that she had gone off with the Family & the new girl to wherever they were staying, or whatever Home was there in the city.
63. SO THERE I WAS STANDING ALONE LATE AT NIGHT IN THE DIMLY-LIT STATION WONDERING WHAT TO DO, feeling lost, alone & lonely, even in a small town, not knowing anybody there or their names or address or how to find them or anything. And in a case like that, I presume the best thing for you to do--what I might have done--would be tot simply go get a hotel room or a pension room or a rooming house room of some kind for the night & wait over until the first train the next morning upon which they might expect me to be, & which I might expect them to meet, & therefore go out & meet that train myself & expect to meet them!
64. SO THAT MIGHT BE A LITTLE TIP FOR YOU IN CASE YOU DO GET LOST, ALONE & LONELY & STRANDED IN SOME STRANGE CITY without the folks that you were supposed to meet. Maybe your train came in late & they had given up waiting for it & figured you just were going to come on the next train the next morning.
65. SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST FIND YOURSELF A PLACE TO STAY?--Or roll out your sleeping bag on the platform or a bench, if it's safe. Be sure you do it in a good light or in the station itself where the station master or the guard or night watchman's around to watch over you. Or get a room & wait till the next morning & the next train, whenever it is, & meet that train--knowing that they very likely will meet the next train, having missed you on the first one.
66. SO PTL! SINCE THEY HAD FOUND OUT THERE WERE NO MORE TRAINS THAT NIGHT, of course they were not out there waiting for me & not expecting me to come in on a baggage train in a baggage car! So I woke up.
67. YOU SAY, "SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? SO WHAT?" Well, I don't really know! All I know is that's what happened. But there are certainly a lot of lessons to learn from it & my experience with that dream, & you've already had probably the main lesson that God wanted t o teach me & you about giving more credence & importance to the Word of God & being better stewards of His Word, more careful & prayerful with His Word & to guard it, preserve it, use it, obey it & pass it on!--Not just lightly thrust it aside & postpone it to where you might even forget it, much less do what the Lord wanted you to do or learn the lesson He wanted you to learn! so, PTL!
68. AS FAR AS THE ACTUAL STORY ITSELF WAS CONCERNED, OF COURSE THERE'S A LESSON THERE: Don't get in such haste that haste makes waste & you forget something you should have done, you leave behind a piece of luggage, you weren't prayerful & careful enough & you jerked instead of squeezing, you didn't look before you leaped! We didn't check & make sure we had all of our luggage, including hers, with us when we got off!
69. WE HAVE GOTTEN IN THE CUSTOM OF EVEN LOOKING UNDER THE RESTAURANT TABLES TO MAKE SURE WE'VE NOT DROPPED ANYTHING, or a garment hasn't accidentally fallen off the back of our chair to the floor or from our laps to the or whatever. I've had a few sad lessons along this line in which I have usually lost sweaters that I've taken off inside where it was warm & hung'm on the back of my chair or laid'm on a bench or seat or somewhere, & they've sometimes fallen to the dark floor where they can't be seen. We've forgotten that we had it on & had it at all & walked off & left it!
70. AND USUALLY WHEN YOU COME BACK IN A CASE LIKE HAT, THEY'RE GONE! Seldom ever in most of these poor countries do they keep them for you. They keep them, all right, but they keep them and take them home! For which you can't much blame them! Being poor, they value every little thing like that & cherish it & probably need it!
71. SO I'VE ALWAYS PRAYED, "WELL, LORD, IF I LOSE ANYTHING, PLEASE LET SOMEBODY FIND IT THAT REALLY NEEDS IT & THEN I WON'T MIND!" This is why I seldom ever pick up a dropped coin, I figure, "Well, Lord, You let me drop that coin for some reason, maybe it's for the next poor guy or bum or child that comes along, to let somebody find it or pick it up who needs it."
72. SO HASTE MAKES WASTE & DON'T BE IN SUCH A BIG HURRY THAT YOU FORGET SOMETHING that's going to cause you more trouble & cost you more time--much much more, many times more--than if you'd just slowed down a little bit & been a little more thoughtful, looked a little more carefully around & under the table & under the seat or wherever & made sure you had everything with you & had not forgotten or left anything behind.
73. BECAUSE LOOK HOW MUCH TROUBLE THIS ONE SUITCASE HAD CAUSED US by being forgotten & left on the train!--So that I had to run fast & risk my life to jump on a moving train--the back end of it at that--as it was leaving the station, & then get delayed by having to go clear back to the city, & then to have to turn around & come back again, almost not being able to catch any train at all & nearly being delayed over night in the big city! And even when I finally managed to ride in the baggage car back to the town again, the folks were all gone, thinking that of course I wouldn't come in again that night, but possibly the next morning.
74. SO A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE, HASTE MAKES WASTE, & IF YOU GET IN TOO BIG A HURRY YOU'RE APT TO LOSE MORE TIME THAN YOU GAIN! As my dear first wife Mother Eve used to say when we were in a hurry to get to some church or appointment or wedding or somewhere: "Okay Dave, we don't have any time for any of your shortcuts!"
75. BEING AN AQUARIAN I'M ALWAYS TRYING TO IMPROVE THINGS & I'm always trying to find a better way, & being in a hurry I'm prone to try find a shortcut if I can. But often if I don't know the city & know the way already, even with a map, I discover that the shortcut & finding it takes longer than if I'd gone the known way, even though it was longer & more roundabout. I would have gotten there quicker than trying to wend my way through unfamiliar territory by trying to take a shortcut.
76. SO SOMETIMES LEAPING BEFORE YOU LOOK & JERKING BEFORE YOU SQUEEZE & HASTING JUST CAUSES WASTING OF TIME INSTEAD OF SAVING TIME--as it did in the case of this lost luggage! Thank the Lord, by losing a lot more time, we did find the luggage & saved it recovered it & returned--but too late to meet out folks & to go to the Home for the night.
77. I PRESUME I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GET ROOM OR GOD WOULD HAVE HAD TO DO A MIRACLE to help me happen to find the folks or have them meet me somehow. I don't know how it could have ended, because that's where I woke up! So that must be the lesson, several lessons now that I've gotten from that dream!
78. AND FINALLY, BEWARE OF SOME OF THE FOLKS THAT YOU MAY BUMP INTO HERE & THERE who may be Family members or ex-Family members or backsliders or troublemakers who have caused quite a bit of trouble already in the past! Watch out about them! I remember I had a funny feeling about this new girl, who'd just joined us, meeting Mother Eve, of all people.
79. I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT HER BEING MISLED OR MISGUIDED OR DIVERTED IN SOME WAY, EVEN PERVERTED, THROUGH OUR DEAR MOTHER EVE who's sort of wandered around lost & astray for a good many years because she always wanted to go her own way & do her own thing & frequently disobeyed & went against direct orders & did as she pleased instead of paying attention to the Word of God & His Worder, His Prophet, God's man, & obeying her husband & doing as she should.
80. SHE HAS ALMOST ALWAYS GONE HER OWN WAY & DONE HER OWN THING, & as a result she has made many blunders & many mistakes & led others astray & had lots of trouble & caused lots of trouble. But that's what the Lord forewarned us she would do years ago when He gave us the prophecy about the Coming Division. (ML#s 117A, 716.)
81. IT'S NOW HAPPENED & IT'S OVER, THANK GOD--I hope--& we have conquered it & gotten rid of most of the House of Saul & had our RNR & recovered!--Thanks to the Lord & obedience to His Word & following Him & His Word instead of false leaders & false prophets & those who would have led us astray if we had followed them.
82. THANK THE LORD WE HAVE HONOURED HIS WORD & OBEYED IT, & you & I have now gotten much further than we would have gotten if we had tried to keep all those folks who were going astray & leading everybody else astray. We've gone back to honouring the Word, obeying the Word, & the Lord has blessed us for it!--Amen? It pays to obey! To exalt His Word!--Do you? We've exalted millions of'm!!--& He's blessed us all for it!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
