I am in a large stubbled field at night. Though there is a partial moon, most of the light is coming from the headlights of my car---a mahogany red VW Rabbit I drove 25 years ago. I am walking behind and away from the car. I am walking with purpose to the edge of the field where the area is wooded primarily with deciduous trees. As I move toward the woods I see two wolves and hear a third.
The alpha male is in an alert resting position, his abdomen to the ground, his front legs positioned to rise quickly. He doesn't stand nor threaten me.
From the moment I see him, he never lets go of my gaze.
I am aware that I feel fear.
I reach the car without incident and open the passenger side front door.
When I am safely inside the car and the door is closed I look down to see a black lab on the floor, sitting upright. There is ample room for him and my legs. My first impression is that this dog is a familiar pet, one once belonging our family, specifically to me or my son---Lady, Midnight, Dozer or Dee Dee. After I wake I realize that several years ago during Theophostic prayer
sessions God appeared often as a black lab: steady, protective,
comforting, familiar, love. Unconditional love.In the dream I effortlessly move left into the driver's seat, put the car in gear, then do a u-turn, screaming at the wolves, driving fast, tires kicking up dirt as my u-turn takes me close to them before driving away.
The wolves do not retreat. The alpha remains at rest; he does not stand nor startle.
As I experience the u-turn in the dream, the directions I feel are not as we as a society agreed or established here on earth---North South East West. The wolves are north of the field and in the dream east and west are reversed.
The lay of the land feels very Iowa---the harvested field being table-top flat. The dirt, though, is not the rich black top soil Iowa is blessed with but the less fertile brown of a parched Wisconsin field in autumn, or even the crusty clay-infused topsoil of surburban eastern Missouri.
Returning to sleep, then waking a couple of hours later, I realize that the fear I feel in the dream is within me. I am concerned about the fragility of my human body. And, it is the God-infused strength in my soul that empowers me to meet the gaze of the wolf---to stare back courageously into the eyes of the predator.
R
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness… “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves… do not worry about what to say or how to say it… you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:1,16,19-20 NIV
