XV

YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS

(ACTS 2:17)

The buzzing of his phone awakened Brock. Caller ID informed him that it was Captain Kirk. The minicomputer that served as his phone also told him it was exactly 5 a.m. Adrenaline surged through him. Had something happened to the pastor or his wife? Somebody in the church family?

“Cappy, what is it?” Brock blurted into the phone. Destiny stirred next to him and opened bleary eyes as she propped herself up on an elbow.

“Good morning, son,” Captain Kirk said with enthusiasm. “Did I wake you?”

“Well, yeah, it is 5 a.m. Is there an emergency?”

“I’m sorry, son,” Captain Kirk said with regret in his tone. “No, no, nothing like that. I, um, had a dream. I’ve been pacing and praying for almost an hour now, and I just couldn’t wait any longer to talk to you.”

Brock refrained from saying this better be good. “I’m listening, Sir.”

“I had the most vivid dream,” the pastor told him. “The angel Melanchthon came to me and told me of things shortly to come to pass.”

Brock rolled his eyes. He was now tending to doubt Captain Kirk’s friendship with a heavenly angel. He was becoming concerned that this Godly man who had been like a father to him was becoming senile. “Okay, what’s shortly to come to pass?”

“Before that, I need to tell you something about Seven and the Bible verse that has profound meaning to him. Do you remember?” Captain Kirk asked.

“You mean Revelation 10:11?”

“Yes, very good, son. I have been shown in this dream I just had that there is a dual meaning for Seven. I thought it had deep meaning to him when he felt called to be an evangelist. But when he was with his first earthly love, it had actually come to him then.”

“By first earthly love, are you talking about the girl that left him to marry a much older man?”

“Precisely,” Captain Kirk boomed, reminding Brock of a mad scientist declaring eureka! “So this verse is actually going to have not only a dual meaning, but a threefold meaning to the young man. He too is having a profound dream tonight, or maybe I should say this morning. There are two things you need to personally bring to his mind, son, and they both have to do with two separate Bible verses.”

“So Revelation 10:11 would be one of them,” Brock replied, intrigued and regaining confidence in his old friend.

“Yes, but first Daniel 5:27. It tells Seven he has been weighed in the balances and is found wanting. He will be aroused from a deep sleep at exactly 5:27 this morning. He will be aware that the numbers have a significant meaning, but not know why. You are to enlighten him.”

“What if he doesn’t mention it?”

“All the better. Tell him, or ask him, however you feel led, lad. Your inquiring into something you shouldn’t know should have a big impact. Then tell him the meaning of his dream and Revelation 10:11. The meaning of the dream is simply three strikes and you’re out or the third time is, for lack of a better word, the charm.”

“Well, what does that mean? What’s the three strikes, and what’s the charm?”

“Seven is actually on the verge of leaving and going back to the twin cities. He is rapidly becoming willing to take his chances with the death threats. You, Brock, need to not act like a hostile father and become his spiritual brother. If he chooses to stay, he needs to stop drinking and stop acting like the spoiled brat he has become.”

“So let me get this straight,” Brock said as he was now out of bed and gazing out of the window at an incredible starry morning. “Seven is receiving a message through a dream. If he accepts the message, he gains God’s favor. If he ignores the message and returns to Minnesota, that’s his third strike and he loses God’s favor.”

“Well put, son.”

“So is this dream what you meant by what’s to shortly come to pass?”

“No indeed,” Captain Kirk said and then sighed. “There is a young woman that has been trying to seek Jesus. Unfortunately, she has spent many years of her life in great spiritual darkness. She has embraced wickedness and now demonic entities are cleaving to her soul like evil spirit leeches. This will all be coming to a head soon. But right now focus on Seven. If he chooses to reform and stays, he needs to be a part of this woman’s deliverance.  You have roughly twenty minutes until 5:27.”

“Do you know the woman?”

“I don’t. She will be made known when the time for her deliverance is at hand.”

“What if it happens soon rather than later? Is Seven still to be a part of it?”

“It might slow up the deliverance process, but yes, if he’s willing. I’ll be praying for you, son.”

“Okay,” Brock replied hesitantly as his mind flashed an image of Seven doing a silly little dance last night. “I’ll do my best.”

“Yes, do your best. Leave it to God to do the rest.”

“Yes sir, oh captain my captain.”

Captain Kirk chuckled, wished Brock God speed, and the two men hung up.

At the kitchen table Brock took a sip of half café coffee, and looked at the coffee maker as it finished brewing Deathwish coffee for Seven. Brock watched the time on his phone change from 5:26 to 5:27. Seconds later he heard floorboards creek from Seven’s room. Brock continued to pray for wisdom and guidance. At 5:32 Seven entered the kitchen wearing black sweatpants, a Minnesota Vikings sweatshirt, and a Twins baseball cap on backwards.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Brock greeted.

“Hey, morning Brock,” Seven replied a little breathless and a lot discombobulated.

“I brewed you some Deathwish. I put a clean mug by the pot.”

“Bless you, my child,” Seven mumbled as he poured himself a cup of the steaming brew. Brock watched Seven’s hands tremble and marveled that he didn’t spill any.

“Hung over?”

Seven shrugged. “Not really.”

“Bad dream?”

“Ouch,” Seven said after he took a sip of the piping hot coffee. “Sort of.”

“Is that why you woke up at 5:27?”

Seven had been cautiously moving the cup to his lips for another sip when he froze and gazed at his cousin from over the mug. Then he realized that Brock must have heard his footsteps moments after Seven’s eyes had beheld the numbers 5:27 on the digital clock. He proceeded to take a sip of coffee before answering. “Yeah.”

“Do you wonder if there is some meaning behind 5:27 other than just the time?”

Seven had been blowing on the coffee and was about to take another sip when he once again froze and gazed at Brock. “As a matter of fact, it did cross my mind. But why would you think that?”

“I was, um, informed by a dream the meaning it has for you,” Brock replied.

“Your kidding,” Seven Sallie said, completely dumbfounded. “Okay, enlighten me.”

Brock opened his Bible to the book of Daniel, chapter five. He pointed to verse twenty-seven. “Never mind the Tekel part, just read the rest.”

“Thou art found weighed in the balances, and art found wanting,” Seven read quietly and then looked at Brock with startled eyes. “Who me?”

“Yes you.”

“Couldn’t be.”

“Then who?”

Seven recalled how the image of the numbers seemed to burn into his mind for several seconds after he took his eyes off of the clock. “But why?”

“I think it starts with Revelation 10:11, Seven. Remember when the Holy Spirit brought it to my mind to say to you when we were at Six’s place?”

“How could I forget? It’s the main reason I came down here to the corn flavored boondocks’ with you.”

Brock felt himself fill with encouragement. He assumed  the death threats were Seven’s main motive. “So tell me why Revelation 10:11 has such profound meaning to you. I mean I know that it had something to do with a call to evangelism, but how, why?”

“Well, you remember in high school when I started deejaying?” Seven asked.

“Of course.”

“And you remember Salena and me joining her church.”

“I do.”

“So, I fell in love with Salena and became a Christian. The church I joined taught that modern music was evil. I loved my music and I loved deejaying; it was my whole life. But I gave it up for Christ.” Seven did air quotes when he said Christ. “As much as I loved it, I was led to believe it was an idol. But I had Salena and I had the Lord. But I found myself lacking direction. Deejaying was my direction. I had been planning to be the next Howard Stern.”

“So I was praying long and earnestly about what to do with my life. When I finished, I opened my Bible and my eyes went to Revelation 10:11. I read it over and over, and the calling got louder and louder. I was to become an evangelist. I would become a modern day Billy Graham instead of Howard Stern. Then a few weeks after this so called calling, Salena informed me that she was leaving me to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather.”

“So right on the heals of this, Brittney catches me on the rebound. She and I join a more contemporary church. One that plays rock and roll instead of teaching that all forms of it are evil. We get pregnant, we get married, and I start working at a food warehouse.”

“But I start deejaying Christian music on the side. And I start preaching at youth groups. And a couple of pastors tell me what a gift I have at speaking and they want to help me pursue it full time. So I discuss it with Brit, and we pray about it. Keep in mind she had already cheated on me once at this point and I had forgiven her. But if I was going to become a pastor or evangelist, we needed to be a team, and I just wasn’t sure. But then I found myself in deep prayer and anguish over the decision. Once again I came across Revelation 10:11. I had put the first experience with the verse in the back of my mind. Then I come across it again. To me it was a sure sign.”

“So over the next year, I’m working full time driving a truck for the food warehouse, taking college courses, and sermonizing a couple times a month. Now I feel like I’m on my way to becoming another Joel Osteen. In the midst of this, one of my mentors and my wife become taken with one another. They end up getting caught by his wife and they both have tearful apologies. I forgive both. I don’t know how much of my forgiveness was Christian virtue and how much was not wanting my potential career derailed. Most important, our daughter. What I do know is that I was never more angry in my life. But I somehow kept it inside and kept pursuing a career in ministry.”

Seven sarcastically did air quotation marks for career.

“Man, that’s rough,” Brock Said. “Wasn’t Brit’s third offense with the same mentor guy?”

“It was. I would have probably been stupid enough to forgive her a third time if it wasn’t so humiliating.”

“Why was it so humiliating?” Destiny asked.

The two men turned to look at her walking toward the coffee pot wearing faded jeans and a pink and lavender flannel shirt.

“That’s very high octane,” Brock said. “I have some half café in the thermos.”

“Oh, good call,” Destiny said as she let go of the coffee pot and grabbed the thermos. The two men sat stone still and silent as if they had been caught doing something naughty. Destiny shrugged. “That’s okay, it’s none of my business anyway.”

“Well,” Seven Sallie sighed. “She was supposed to be off running errands or something. I called her to find out when she would be home. Her lover answered her phone and then I could hear them bickering. She sounded breathless and told me she would call me back in a few minutes. I heard the phone clatter, but the call didn’t end. I then proceeded to listen to them having sex for several minutes. My wife didn’t even realize she had provided me with a soundtrack to her infidelity.”

“Oh my,” Destiny said with a hand over her mouth and her face coloring. “I guess I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Wow, I made a former porn star and stripper blush,” Seven Sallie said.

“Actress and dancer,” Destiny replied meekly.

“So, not even a minute after she cried out to a deity, she called me back,” Seven continued. “She couldn’t lie about meeting Romeo, but she denied that they were having sex. She said she got together with him because he was distraught. Apparently the church conference fired him after the adultery was discovered. This caused his wife to reconsider her forgiveness and she filed for divorce.”

“I found out later that my wife’s lover and my mentor wanted her to leave me for him. My wife told him no. I guess due to her deep and abiding love for me. An argument resulted, followed by pushing and shoving. This apparently turned them on and passion ensued. In the midst of sexual congress,Y I called. Hoping to force the issue, he answered the phone when I called. It partially worked. It was the last straw for Brittney and me. But once the forbidden aspect left the equation, Brit was no longer interested in their relationship.”

“So, that’s the story of my romantic relationships. Since the end of my marriage, my sex life has consisted of friends with benefits, flings, but mostly myself. My only love has been strong cocktails. My religion has become agnosticism  on a good day and atheism on a bad day. Now, if you are trying to insinuate I am getting a third call with Revelation 10:11, I think you’re nuts.”

“Jesus won’t force you to follow Him,” Brock said with a shrug. “But I do think you’re getting called for a third, and possibly last time.”

Seven scowled and waved a dismissive hand, even though the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. “I know, I know, Jesus stands at the door and…”

Before Seven could finish his quote from Revelation 3:20, there was a knock on the back door.