9:49 p.m. - 2006-12-19
The second spiritual experience

Spiritual Dream

The old man was dressed in a tattered robe. His hair was shoulder length, parted in the middle and white. He had no facial hair to mask his saddened, leathery, lined and wrinkled face. He carried a large leather-bound book as he walked toward the field full of large white tents; the kind of tents that one would picture in an old fashioned church revival.

It was a warm, dark, starlit night and I got the sense the scene was out in the country somewhere. Out in the middle of no where.

Each tent was full of people singing, dancing and raising their hands to the sky. Large men in black suits without smiles guarded the doorway to each tent. The man walked like his feet hurt. He stumbled wearily from one white tent to another, showing the guardians his book and begging to be admitted.

He was turned away from one tent after another. Finally, he approached the last tent but instead of being turned away, he was welcomed in and ushered to a pulpit and encouraged to open his book. The people in the tent were also humble and tattered looking. There were people there from all races, both men and women. They all stared at the old man and waited hungrily for what he had to say. The tent grew very quiet.

The old man stepped up to the pulpit and opened his book. He opened his mouth and began to speak. In a quiet voice he said, �The answer is God within us. God is within all of us, you simply need to turn on the light. Love each other as Jesus did. It�s so easy, so uncomplicated. God within us. That�s who he is. It�s so simple.�

As he spoke, all the other tents fell away and only the tent in which the old man spoke remained.

The dream ended.

I woke up full of knowledge. Full of hope that even if I didn�t quite believe word for word what seems to be a legend in a book, that I could still cherish a wonderful story of innocence born to innocence. That I could believe a man once lived whom was divinely inspired and sent by God to preach one simple message to the neediest among us. A simple message telling us that there is a God and that each and every one of us who chooses to let God live within us can have a personal relationship with him and share the kingdom of heaven.

I always wondered if Jesus was resurrected then where is he now? My dream gave me the answer. He is our connection to God and he is right inside us. Knowing that, I now need to behave differently toward my fellow man. I need to let the God within me show through.

I love the nativity story. As a matter of fact, I love all the Bible stories. I just never had faith that the stories were real, believing them to be more legend than fact. However this does not matter. The stories are like poetry. Through the stories we can put a face on God within us. We can call him Jesus. We can listen to the parables of a remarkable man who I do believe was sent from above, and know that these parables describe in the words of man how God wants us to live. In that light, won�t you join me this Christmas and turn on the light inside�.turn on the God within you and rejoice this O Holy night.

P. I. Yarnsmith

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