It isn't that I dream every night. Not by any means. But I do think dreams tell us things about ourselves or God or sometimes both.
Last night I had a choppy dream about cars, driving and police. It began abrubtly with me climbing into a car which was similar to my 5 speed Honda Civic. I was in an unfamiliar place which seemed familiar in my dream. The day felt overcast; rather dimly lit, but not night. Kind of like a Terminator movie feel. As I got behind the wheel, there was an urgency to get someplace, but I have no idea where that was. So I popped it into first, then second and third, peeling out of the parking lot and onto a curvy road. I was speeding. The thought entered my mind, I'm not driving very carefully, but I need to get where I'm going. And so on I drove, swinging around corners, crossing the center line just a bit - careful, I thought, but reckless, I knew. Alongside the road were dense bushes and trees and as I headed towards a freeway crossing, it wasn't clear which lane would take me south onto the freeway. I guessed wrong and went up over the freeway, about to head north. At the last minute I turned hard to the left, pulling my front end into the oncoming lane, which was thankfully free. I slid across the lane, onto the dirt shoulder and hit a curb of some sort. I wondered what minor damage might have been done. Not stopping to look, I hit the gas and quickly accelerated back over the freeway. Well done, I thought to myself.
Then I looked up ahead. There, alongside the road facing the direction I was now traveling, was a police car. His lights and engine were off. He must have seen everything as I went by him.
I was dead meat.
So, as any law-abiding citizen would do, I went by him at exactly the speed limit, not bothering to glance his direction in the desperate hope that he would have mercy on someone who must now seem harmless.
Just to be safe, I pulled into a crowded parking lot of a pub and tried to disappear in the mix of cars - just as I saw his patrol lights come on. I pulled into a spot, hoping he would drive on by but knowing he would not.
He didn't.
Instead he pulled up behind me with his lights flashing and suddenly we were inside the pub. Standing toe to toe, he asked me, Do you know why I pulled you over? (Apparently they pull this even in dreams). I knew better than to admit guilt publicly, but something within me hoped for leniency. I replied, Well, I was driving recklessly.
I don't recall what he said next, but the look in his face wasn't what I hoped. The officer stuffed a small pink slip of paper in my hand, only a bit larger than a bookmark. The slip was a grocery list of infractions, but it was not a ticket. I was confused. He smiled a bit and said, Take this to the studio.
The studio?
Yeah, the MTV studio. They're doing a new reality show about people who get caught on the roads. You'll compete and it will legally take care of your infraction. It beats going to court.
He was giving me a break.
Yet the first thing to pop into my mind was, Egads! I'm a pastor! Everyone will see what an idiot I've been to drive recklessly, endangering others! And they'll see what a dork I am on TV! But this is a break - it won't go on my record. What to do?! I even remember thinking, Oh crap. Greg Hammerly is going to completely lose respect for me (he's a good friend & driving instructor).
And then I awoke.
Ah, one other thing: When I looked at the pink slip from the officer, he had written across it, at an angle, one word: Disputed.
Oddly, this is the same word that popped up in a couple of weeks ago in a dream about a lousy motel room I didn't want to pay for. I signed the bill with the word "Disputed" instead of my name. Both people were some sort of gatekeeper or authority - a jerky motel manager and a somewhat merciful police officer. One time I wrote "disputed" and this time the officer did. Hmm.
Care to share your interpretations? Or your own dreams?
- Curtis
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