I had a dream about Age of Empires

And this is how it came to be.

I went to bed early. Earlier than the norm not just for the house, but really, for Argentine life. 10:30 was the hour. I couldn't explain why I was so tired, nor be completely happy with my decision as I was leaving during the last thirty minutes of Mansfield Park, but part of me was also hoping to wake up earlier the next day for a walk. Perhaps even as a run (gasp).

But then the light was on, and I felt bad asking to turn it off until about 1 in the morning because I knew my roommates were needing that light for various reasons. So it was more of a half-sleep. Only, when the light went off, my mind went crazy and decided not to sink into the traditional REM cycle. Instead, it raced about things to do, ideas for the new year with Escuelita, and much, much more!

There was this cat that used to chase the Looney Tunes character Speedy Gonzalez around all the time. In one episode he says, "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." He then joins in the Mexican hat dance with a bunch of other mice. At 3:31am, I surrendered in the form of writing in my journal and reading some of the Bible. No sense getting angry--just use the time doing something productive, right?

I began making a physical list (rather than electronic) of different people in my life that I want to pray for, by name, each day. A list of people from Northwestern, from Colorado, friends from other states (of course Texas), family, and those I have met in Argentina. As I prayed for each one, it only conjured up even more names to add.

Only God knows their true needs. I realized that I'm not always sure how to pray for people even when I  have talked to quite a few of them and asking for what they need prayer. Nevertheless, I still do not know the root of an issue. I am thankful for the God who can answer prayers, and the ability to give it all up to Him. At the same time, 'if only I could pray more specific prayers,' I thought.

I finally fell to sleep around 5:30 in the morning with a dream where I was in the game Age of Empires. I pictured everything similar to my times of playing with my brother: building castles, hiding men to keep building houses and cutting trees, and naturally, trebuchets... Within the dream I kept telling myself how glad I was to be asleep, even if the dream was vacuous.

Then the story didn't end there.

The next day for my walk, ending up much later than planned (considering I needed to catch up with sleep), and almost not happening at all (LAZY!!), I ran into the director of the girls' institute we visit during the school year. It was one of those, I-recognize-your-face-but-can't-seem-to-place-exactly-where-so-if-you-keep-talking... a HA!-moments.

She described where some of the girls were these days, how some of them were safe with extended families, but others were in more difficult situations, and they weren't sure how things were going for them. It was as if God said, "You wanted to know how to pray for these girls--here you go!"

It's not just a responsibility we have to pray for people, but to really believe that God can transform us. There's that paragraph in Romans that talks about the Spirit interceding for us when we know not what to pray. Then there are times when we know exactly what we ought to pray, and we don't. Prayer is not just a privilege, an opportunity to talk with our loving God, but a weapon. We use our swords, swift and sure.

Not that we ask God using special words to get our way. We don't manipulate our language to make Him do what we want. And I want to be very careful about not letting gossip get into my prayer request time. But knowing more specific situations, particularly about my girls, makes me all the more excited when I see an answer to prayer come to life. It's not a "I prayed for that," but a, "Hey God! We totally talked about that. How cool that you wanted me to be a part of the conversation!"

Make sense? Any way, I still can't get over the other interesting part. No, not the dream. But the fact that I woke up late due to the restlessness. Almost didn't walk at all. But because I did any way, I got to see someone I haven't seen for a month and a half to hear news about some of God's special women.

Chau.