Dream about Violence

OK, so it’s been a long while since I’ve shared anything. I went through a long period where I didn’t dream at all, and then once I started dreaming again I decided I’d only share dreams which I thought were significant in some way.

Last night I had a long, multistage dream. The last part of it seemed significant to me so I thought I’d share.

I am a counselor at a large youth camp with high-school age attendees. At first I think it is a youth camp for girls, then I realize there are young men there too, but there is only one boy for every ten or fifteen girls.

On the second day of the camp, we come under demonic attack. I don’t know how we know, but everyone just feels something bad is going to happen. We all go to the chapel/sanctuary to pray.

While we are praying, two of the young men stand up and start shouting and waving guns in the air. They are sitting very close to one another but I don’t think they planned this together because one of them seems very surprised. The surprised one gives up his gun right away, but the other one- the one who stood up first- is still threatening people. I don’t know what to do but then i realize I am one of the oldest ones there and need to take responsibility, so I grab the barrel of the gun and push it up in the air just as he fires it. I wonder how I got the strength to do that b/c he is stronger than I am.

I start talking to the young man. I tell him how great it is that even though the gun went off, no one got hurt and really everything is going to be ok now if he will just give me the gun. He ends up giving me the gun, then he breaks down screaming and crying. The girls around him grab him and restrain him, praying and trying to calm him down.

One last thing I noticed is that there were no older male authority figures at this camp. This was especially obvious as I held the gun that I had wrestled away from the boy, wondering what I would do with it, what would happen if one of the young men tried to take it from me, etc.

I wonder if this dream is significant. Obviously, there is something to be said about the culture of violence in America and how much of our entertainment (movies, TV, video games) is rich with violence. I am not sure how I feel about whether or how that effects young people or people in general- what do you think?

More significant, in my opinion, is the lack of male authority, therefore I think the dream may also be a representation of what could happen in America/ the American church if the current trend of fatherlessness and lack of male spiritual authority/ leadership in the home and church continues. What do you think?

That being said, I just want to say something about my church, Every Nation Tallahassee. I am so proud of the pastoral staff and basically all the men who have stepped up into leadership roles in my church. They are all great men of God, strong leaders, and are fulfilling a role that is so necessary and unfortunately vacant in many churches today: they are godly role models for our young men and boys. I have never thought about this before, but now I realize that in the event of emergency there would be plenty of men in my church willing and available to step up and lead, that gives me great comfort; not that women cannot lead, but I know there are some things I just wouldn’t feel comfortable or safe doing and appreciate the fact that I will never be left with a job that is not right for me just because the person that is better suited for that job is unavailable.

~ by snowhite197 on July 31, 2008.