Confessions of a Follower

I had a dream last night about two things: soap and persecution. Why on Earth would these two things go together? I have no idea, either. Anyway, let me set the stage for you.

My dream went like this:
     I found myself in this hallway outside of what seemed like a laundry room. All the floors were concrete and they were old and disgusting. The walls weren't too awesome, either. Picture sea-foam green straight from the '70s everywhere. Next thing I know I see this old hag-like woman handing me a large basket of laundry. When I say heavy, I mean it. The basket was filled to the brim, it looked like a full basket of clothes but it must have weighed a hundred or more pounds. I was in agony as I carried it! She then directed me to this room at the end of the hallway, the laundry room.
   This room was pretty empty besides her equally hag-like assistant, a couch that was falling apart, and a washer and dryer. There were also cobwebs in each of the room's corners, and I saw a few tiny spiders crawling around. I was thinking, "Why am I here, who is this woman, and what's the deal with the laundry?" Being exhausted from carrying the clothes, I propped my feet up on the table. Her assistant thn proceeded to take my shoes (my ratty Chuck Taylor knock offs from Target, also falling apart) and my socks off my feet and put them off to the side somewhere. I'm assuming they were with the other random clothes.
   Next, to make this story weirder, the old hag-lady (not the assistant) tells me I'm going to drown in dish soap if I didn't renounce my faith in Jesus Christ.

Don't ask me why dish soap and why the laundry and why couldn't my dream could have been more manly. I have no idea. It just happened.

So, anyway, I'm sitting in this gross laundry room being threatened by a dish soap flood if I don't renounce my faith in Christ, and I told the old hag-lady a paraphrase of what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told King Nebuchadnezzar: "No I will not renounce my faith in Christ. My God's faithful and I know He can save me from this soapy death. But even if He doesn't, I'll still serve Him" (see Daniel 3:16-18 to see what they said, minus the soap references). Then I remember looking at the doorway of this laundry room and I see this blue-ish dish soap start to flood in (think Dawn dish soap). I got kinda nervous as it got closer and closer to me and as it got higher and higher. It got up to the ball joints on my feet and I was nervous still. Part of me was freaking out, thinking, "Okay, God, where are you." I took a deep breath, everything went white, and then I woke up.

After I woke up, I was trying to figure out why persecution was on my mind and in my dream. Maybe it was because I read the first chapter of I John yesterday, and it talked about being in the light and truly living out your faith, and really just being real. The soap, on the other hand, I have no idea why it was there...

Jesus says that in this world, we'll all face persecution because we follow Him. Realistically, I doubt any Christian will face persecution like this. Although, if someone's got a bone to pick with you and they happen to shop at Sam's Club, I'd watch my back. Either way, I hope that regardless of the situation I'm in, I hope I wouldn't ever hesitate to stand up for my faith in Christ, and I hope the same thing for you. I hope we wouldn't be ashamed of the hope we have because of Christ being in our lives.

Know that whenever we are persecuted because of what we believe, Christ is alongside us each step of the way to help us endure it and He's also gone before us. So, in the end, I pray that we would take courage if we face persecution. I pray that we really would "[c]onsider it pure joy..." when we face our trials (James 1:2), however strange they may be.