That Dream

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Matthew 16:13-17 NIV

I had that dream again or one similar to it... You know, the recurring dream that somehow the band U2 and I connected to put on a stadium event where they would play and I would speak.

Now, because I was going to speak to the packed crowd (a thrill of a lifetime) midway through the concert, they allowed me to be on stage to sing with Bono and the band (a second thrill of a lifetime).

So, in this dream, U2 and I were sort of a Revival Team, with them being the Praise Band.

When they called me on stage to sing with them, I left my Bible and my notes on the chair that I had been sitting in.

When it was time for me to speak, I looked furiously and desperately for my Bible... to no avail. So, I had to get up in front of the throngs of people and just speak from the heart... just speak what the Lord had placed on my heart and mind. And with Bono and the Edge giving me support, it was a message about Jesus and who we say that He is. A message that the people listened to and heard.

And when the band played a rocked out version of “Just As I Am”, people came by the hundreds, even thousands, to accept Jesus as Lord.

And when the revival/concert was over, my Bible and all my prepared notes were returned to me, just as I had left them.

God using a moment where I was desperate for Him and could do nothing but rely on Him, to share the message that I all too often keep buried deep in my self. A message that became all too real to all those concert goers that night (in my dream).

Then the concert kicked back in with a gospel laced "Where the Streets Have No Name”, Gospel Choir and all.

In my dream, all I could do was share who Jesus is and what He means to me. All I could do was share the Truth that I had inside me. No notes. No prepared statements. No planned stories or analogies, Just the truth about who Jesus is.

Who do you say that He is?

The following is a “real” thought from Bono, the frontman from U2, on who Jesus is and why He did what He did for us:

"I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled... . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven." - (From Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books))

Keep the Faith... Carpe Diem