rescue

Dream 1:
I have seen this lady before. She is blind, and she only exists in my dreams. She stands downtown in the triangle at Edgewood, Decatur, and Peachtree. And she cries out for help. In dreams past, I have not exactly ignored her; I have acknowledged her, but I have walked past without offering the help for which she pleads. Last night, though, her cry was different.

"Melissa, help me!"

She said my name! This time, I have no choice. I stop. I listen to her story. She had been in a house fire, where her corneas had been scorched, leaving her blind and helpless. She desperately wants to see again, and somehow, she thinks I might lead her to health. I do. I take her to a doctor, and as my dream ends, I add to my student debt to pay for her surgical healing.

****wake up****
****fall back asleep****

Dream 2:
My family and I are swimming in the ocean. My parents' dogs Ruthie and Smokey (in reality, Smokey is now deceased) play on the beach until Smokey decides he must be nearer his momma, and he jumps in. He swims okay, but he panics and turns back toward the shore. The undertow is strong; he paddles with all his little Boston Terrier might, but he makes no headway. He begins to cry. I swim to him, tuck him under my right arm, and deliver him safely back to Ruthie's side.

****wake up****

I have thought about these dreams all day today. Especially in dream 1, the blind woman's cry for my help is sobering. In my dreams, I have passed her so many times thinking I could not offer what she needed. She knew better. These two dreams remind me of two types of people in my world - two particular friends, in fact: 1) those who are blind, cannot see a cure, and cry out daily for help and 2) those who can see glimpses of their safe haven between the waves but who are drowning trying to reach shore. For both of these individuals, I hold the answer. I know the Healer; I know the One who controls the waves with the sound of His voice. I know Jesus. I know salvation. My blind and paddling friends are calling out to me for help. What will be my response?

Love Wins

I just finished reading Rob Bell's controversial book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. I read some stuff about the book before I read the book itself, and I was under the impression that I was supposed to disagree with him. Not only that, but I should now be proclaiming him a heretic.

In actuality, while he and I do not seem to see eye-to-eye on every point of this book, overall, I cannot disagree with him. As I wrote several posts ago, I do believe in the all-transcendent LOVE of Jesus. In contrast to what Bell seems to write, I do believe hell is a literal location reserved for those who have yet to accept this love. But, I cannot reject the notion that God's love is big enough, eternal enough, eventually to rescue all from hell.

This is by no means a universalist argument. The Bible clearly makes the case that no one deserves God's love and that Jesus is the only way to forgiveness and salvation. But, as a Christ-follower, as one who understands the significance of living freely forgiven and transformed by God's grace, should I not rejoice at the thought that all will one day - in this age or in the age to come - experience this same freedom, forgiveness, and transformation through Christ?! No one will get there without Jesus, but, if everyone, of his/her own freewill chooses life through Jesus Christ, HALLELUJAH! PRAISE GOD! AMEN. Let it be.

Finally, I really love Bell's depiction of salvation as accepting God's story for our lives, abandoning our own. Is that not what true confession, repentance, submission (three steps that pretty well sum up the Sunday school definition of salvation) are: to agree with God about who we are and who He is? To accept God's story. Beautiful.

-mo