YOU Matter

I had the wildest dream. No, not like some I’ve had. 

The other night I dreamed Elvis (yes, THAT Elvis) was alive. Not only was he alive, but I was at a bowling alley with him. Alternating between bowling and singing; we were having a blast! 

No, when I say a wild dream, I mean a dream like none I’ve ever had. 

I’ll give you the highlights, so you can judge for yourself. 

I found myself in a large room, the size of a gymnasium. There were a few people in the room with me, though no one I knew.

I don’t know why I was in the room, but it seemed like we were all waiting for something. No, we were waiting for someONE; the person who had invited us all to attend. 

Everyone there was a “person of color”; I was the only white. 

Now here’s the part that I thought was wild. 

I found myself on my knees praying for those who were with me in the room. The leader still hadn’t arrived, but I was compelled to pray. 

Suddenly the room was packed with hundreds and hundreds of young people, mostly black kids, with a lesser amount of young Asian and Latinos. Still, I was the only white.

My prayers turned into groaning and weeping, crying out to God on behalf of those in the room. Others began to join in the intense intercession, while we waited for the leader to arrive. 

The intensity of the prayers was so great, we were so involved in praying and weeping for one another, the leader’s arrival was of secondary importance. Sure, we wanted to see the leader, but we knew we had to care for one other while we waited. 

By now, almost everyone was lying on the floor, praying and weeping. I remember a young black man, a teenager, getting so close to me, praying for me, I could feel his tears against my face. 

When the prayers were more than groaning, I could hear myself and others pleading with God that each person there “would be filled with the Spirit of Glory, so each one would know the length, depth, height, and breadth of God’s immeasurable love, so the world could really see Jesus among us.”

The season of prayer kept increasing, while more and more people filled the room. By the time my dream was over, the room was crammed full of people praying and weeping together. 

I finally awoke, realizing my wild experience was only a dream. But a dream which could, and should, become reality. 

“that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Corinthians 12:25 ESV)

There’s a lot of fuss these days over the various “________ lives matter” emphasis. “Black lives matter”, “All lives matter”, and others slogans floating around social media outlets don’t do a bit of good in bringing people together. 

The slogans, as catchy as they may be, only help drive people apart. 

“All lives matter” sounds good, but it has an underlying message: “YOUR slogan, and what YOU believe, IS WRONG!”

What if, while waiting for the true Leader to arrive, we put all we have and are into the task of praying and weeping with those whose skin is a different shade than ours. 

Wouldn’t it be something if we could, by our actions, not our rhetoric, say to the world “YOU matter“?

I say it would be WILD!

And who knows, maybe the Leader would arrive while we busied ourselves with caring for one another…

Wild? Yeah, like revival wild.

ETERNALLY wild!