You Just Never Know

“What are you doing in my dream?” is not a thought that I recall ever having before. I don’t remember ever realizing during a dream that it was a dream. Dreams are a sleeping reality as real as an awake reality when the instant passes, as every instant does, and both become simply memory.

But there it was, a black International Harvester woody wagon, bright, shiny, new and clear as the 1940s day in which we both were being.

That’s it. That's it exactly except that it did not have the wsw tires, but that’s it exactly. I was standing on the corner as it drove past and turned the corner right in front of me. The longest view I had of it was rearview and taillight. It drove on beyond and away as I shouted or dreamed “wait, I want to go.” Come back.

What was that all about? Who knows! You just don't never know. Spring 2008 I attended Credo, an 8-day retreat for Episcopal clergy, and while there, it was at an Episcopal diocesan camp and conference center near Orlando, I participated in a “dream workshop.” And read a couple of books about dream interpretation, thinking to offer the ministry of a dream reflection group after retiring from St. Thomas, Laguna Beach. I never offered that, instead did another Grief Support Group, more years of EfM, and midweek Bible study groups, but never got round to the dream interpretation group. And don’t mean to start now, so don’t bother asking.

The dream? It’s now a memory that I can call back as readily as other memories, dreams -- and cars.

Am I OK? Well, it seems to be a very long allergy season, with this odd sneezing and runny nose. But no. When I have to fight off the urge to eat ice cream I know I’m not alright. Vanilla, frozen very hard, with chocolate syrup dribbled on, and milk poured over so as to form a crunchy crust. But I will not do, and the answer is “no.”

Reading? Three books. One fiction, The Orphan Master’s Son and a couple other. The Complete Gospels by Robert J. Miller of The Jesus Seminar; it has “New translations of the Bible’s four Gospels plus the Gospels of Thomas and Mary, the Sayings Gospel Q, the Secret Gospel of Mark, and twelve other Gospels from the first three centuries.” At the moment I’m reading about Q. And I’m going to read again about Secret Mark because I’ve offered to study it with the Adult Sunday School during our fall 2014 season. Secret Mark is like finding a missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. If we do it in Sunday School it will only be one session. The orphan master’s son is a North Korean living an unenviable life in an appalling society. My other book just arrived by UPS about dark last evening but I’m well into it, The Text Of The New Testament - Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, Fourth Edition, by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman. Everybody knows Metzger, Ehrman is one of my favorites; plus, my favorite local Bible scholar gave it five stars on Facebook, so here I am into it, and she’s right, it’s first class.

What Else and What Now ? Without searching frantically, I’m keeping an eye out for a book of poems by a Scandinavian poet I like, one poem in particular, but several really. The book is around here somewhere. The house is too damn big and I have books from one end to the other, half of them only half-read. What Now? Maybe visit a dream or a memory. Or go for a walk. I'll go for a walk while Linda does her mercy ministry of taking an elderly friend to the Eye Clinic.