Disciplined Disciples

I had a very weird dream last night. I dreamed that I met a very beautiful girl who was probably in her twenties. She had beautiful blond hair flowing to her shoulders, (no ugly ponytail), and it was very soft. She had a drop dead gorgeous smile and eyes as blue as Lake Tahoe. She wore a trench coat. This girl became instantly attracted to me, and me to her. This was really weird, because in my dream I was my actual self, not some movie star. I still had gray hair and eyebrows and I was old enough to be her father, and there is no way in the world this gal should have even noticed me, much less thrown herself at me.
Nonetheless we hit it off big time and were laughing and talking it up.
I was putty in her hands. At this time two guys approached us. They too had on trench coats. I thought to myself, “What is up with these trench coats?”

As soon as she saw them, the girl of my dreams instantly wanted to leave. We were at a fair or carnival of some type, and we quickly walked away from the two men melting into the crowd. About that time we approached one of the carnival booths and this guy had a booth full of marijuana as big as a tractor-trailer rig. I asked if it was ‘t illegal, and he answered, yes but nobody really cares. He asked if we wanted some free of charge.

The girl who was with me wanted to get some, as did I. The guy in the booth was going to carve out a block of marijuana as big as a watermelon, but just then, we again saw the two strangers in the trench coats. Upon seeing them approaching us, the guy in the booth appeared nervous, as did the girl. The guy in the booth suggested that he had some marijuana that was even better than the booth stuff, and it was located in his barn behind the booth. He suggested that we quickly go to the barn. Just as we were leaving, one of the trench coat guys caught up to us and handed me a business card. The girl grabbed my hand and urged me to leave. I shoved the card into my pocket and left with the girl and booth vendor. We entered the barn and it was dark inside, but I could see that it was completely full of freshly picked marijuana.
Suddenly one of the trench coat guys appeared and confronted the girl and the booth vendor and appeared to be giving them a very hard time. I was off to the side and while the girl and booth vendor were distracted, the other trench coat guy grabbed me and rushed me out of the building.

As I came out into the daylight, suddenly I realized that I had no business being there. I was relieved to get away and hurried out to the parking lot to head for home. The guy in the trench coat disappeared.
I reached in my pocket and pulled out the business card he had given me and it said: “The Disciplined Disciples”. My feeling was that the two of them were very strong Christians, and possibly even disciples of the Lord. They were determined that satan would not lead me down this path of sin. They steadfastly refused to allow me to self-destruct. Had they not arrived when they did, I assume I would have partaken in the marijuana and undoubtedly would have seen what was under the girl’s trench coat and who knows what else. I knew that this would lead to my destruction, but was prepared to do it anyway. I was “caught up in the moment’.

Satan has many temptations at his disposal. As Christians, if we see someone being swept up into dark circumstances it is our responsibility to steadfastly try to help them avoid catastrophe, even if they spurn our efforts, just like the Disciplined Disciples of my dream. The Bible tells us to be sober and vigilant because “our adversary the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour”. I’m glad this was only a dream. It was real enough for me to wake up in a cold sweat. Unlike many of the people reading this, in my early life I tried most of what satan has to offer. I can tell you that although it appears to be exciting and fun, it does not lead to fun and happiness.
Satan’s path leads to misery, unhappiness, loneliness, paranoia, sadness, fearfulness and ultimately death. It destroys families, it destroys health, it destroys sanity, and it can destroy our very souls.
The profound statement of this dream to me is that when faced with temptation, we must be disciplined and immediately run to the Lord.

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1 Peter 9
Resist him, steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same sufferings
are experienced by your brotherhood
in the world.
But may the God of all grace,
who called us to His eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after you have
suffered a while, perfect, establish,
strengthen and settle you.