That is the title of a book loaned to me by Deb’s cousin on my recent vacation. The subtitle is “Discovering the Spiritual Meaning Behind Everyday Events,” and the author is Murray Dueck, who leads a prophetic school in Langley, British Columbia.
Last fall I spent a season of three months recording dreams from the night hours. The idea that God might speak during the day using circumstances was intriguing to me. Twice on our vacation it seemed like circumstances fit what I learned from this book.
On my birthday, June 13, we were driving from Barstow, CA (in the Mojave Desert) to Flagstaff, AZ, where we were looking forward to cooler weather and a special birthday dinner. On this particular day God chose to change my plans – not the only time He did that on the trip. We stopped for lunch in Needles, at a temperature over 100 degrees, and heard a rattle coming from the engine compartment of our VW Passat. We tracked down a mechanic who grew up in Germany, and specialized in German cars. As it turned out, the problem was caused by a trailer safety chain being too tight. My fears of being delayed a day in the desert, and spending money on car repair were replaced by gratitude to God for a simple solution (which is what we had prayed for).
We arrived in Flagstaff too late to have that special dinner. Not only that, but driving around the KOA Kampground our brakes were screeching. Braking a trailer can be hard on brake pads. So, twice in one day, we had apparent car problems. The next morning I took close-up photos of the brake pads, and we drove the the VW dealer less than a mile away. He assured us it was just dust and the brakes were fine, and told us how to burnish the pads. That makes two possibly expensive car repairs that turned out to be nothing.
But the best part of my surprise birthday was two emails I received the evening we arrived. Both were from former employees who are talking with us about about future involvement in our company. Both of them left our company to take jobs with Microsoft, and are exceptional resources. I had pretty much given up on hearing from them. But to my surprise, after unpacking my computer in the campground, there were emails from *both* of them, and both were very positive. Wow – God knows how to give nice birthday presents.
In light of the “If this were a dream” book, I began to ponder these circumstances. Then I realized that I was in a city called Flagstaff. A flag can be used to give a signal, and the city we were staying in was the “pole” that was used to hold the flag.
Here is the outline of questions offered by Murray Dueck, drawing on the story of the apostle Peter in Acts 10, where he has a vision of a sheet with unclean animals.
- If this were a dream, what would it mean?
- Do you see any evidence of colloquialisms or wordplay?
- Is there a connection between the symbolic events and events in your church, community, nation or the world at large?
- Do you see evidence of divine timing?
- Do events correspond with any significant dates, such as holidays, celebrations, or anniversaries?
- Do you notice any significant numbers?
- How do these events correspond to symbolic language in the Bible?
- Is there evidence of a paradigm-shift, particularly from pride to humility, in the people involved?
- Can you organize these events into a prophetic timeline?
- How does God want you to respond?
Ten days later on our trip God did it again. We were in Estes Park, CO, high in the mountains next to Rocky Mountain National Park. Staying in Estes Park had not even been on our original itinerary, but God changed our plans again, and we ended up staying four nights, longer than we stayed in one place anywhere else on our trip. Thursday, June 23rd was intended to be a day to relax, and we went into town from our campground primarily to have lunch and take a walk on the riverwalk. (See the next post for photos and narrative.)
After enjoying dinner the previous evening at Mama Rose’s, we had decided to eat at a restaurant called Poppy’s. As we opened the door to enter the restaurant, we thought we recognized some folks we have known for 12 years, from Pittsburg, KS — Doug and Denise Kreighbaum and their daughter. Doug is the apostolic leader of a network of churches in the midwest. They were as surprised as we were. We exchanged greetings and hugs, found out they were camping for a week in Rocky Mountain National Park, and went our ways. The chances of an encounter like this are one in a million.
Later, I wondered, “if this were a dream, what would it mean?” Apostles are considered fathers. We were entering a restaurant named “father” at the precise moment Doug was leaving. I certainly would not assume these circumstances are saying anything about Doug, but I wonder what they mean for us.
