Old Dog V
Back to: The Dream Of The Forest
Impasse
Bob Neumann, 9.6.2001
Present Reality
It was 5:25 when i awoke and realized i needed to document the “night vision” i had just had. But i also had the desire to explain what i am doing, because this one, like most “dreams/visions” of late was unique and unlike others i have had.
In Job 33 we are told that GOD speaks “not once” but twice in dreams/visions. To keep “us” from destruction. This one falls into that category to most degrees. Habakkuk 2 speaks of writing down the vision so it can be sent out to await it’s proper time. I am not sure if this actually applies….at this point.
Let me try to explain. There are times where i am walking and talking with GOD and the whole purpose is for me to write down what occurs. Then there are times i have gone through an elaborate set of images at the end of which i am given a very direct WORD. And then there are those times like right now where i just “survived” something and as i attempt to narrate it that is where and when THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT throws me “songs”, “scriptures”, “questions”….and revelation comes. Tonight there are some intense images and a hard path to get there. So let me begin…. THE ANCIENT PATH I had gone to bed and was sleeping as best as i can put it when i “found” myself walking up a pathway. In itself it was not a new theme. I had walked paths before. This time i was very much in my natural body and carrying a backpack. Clothing and shoes were unremarkable and were quickly ignored. The pack, as typical of late was “well filled”….no idea with what, but again that is not a new thing.
The path was a narrow one that winded a little from side to side. I moved at a simple pace “up” the path/trail. In my mind different scripture came floating by….Jeremiah’s ANCIENT PATHS….THE MASTER’S own warning about the STRAIGHT IS THE GATE AND NARROW THE PATH….and as i walked i repeated these scriptures. Throw in Psalm 27 which i keep going back and forth to and you have an idea of where i was “in the spirit”….if that is important to you. STEPS After a short ways the pathway became stone steps cut into the mountainside. I say mountainside because that is what i “KNOW” i was climbing. In Psalms it says…I was glad when they said unto me…let us go up TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. So i felt “good”….always do….when it appears i am “going up”. All the time i was carrying on a “one sided conversation”….part scripture/part prayer as i was making “ALEYA”….going up. I remember singing Marty GOETZ’S song based on Psalm 27 and another the name and author eludes me. The only thing that i wanted to do was to get to the top and to see again my ABBA.
As the steps got narrower and steeper i found some other scriptures and was merrily on my way. THE CLIMB I do not know how long i had been climbing, which proves how little i was paying attention to the totality of what was occurring. But somewhere along the line i realized i was climbing on four wheel drive. The steps were so steep i was balancing myself with my hands and pushing upward by my feet. I guess it was also at this time that the spread or distance between the steps had increased to the point i was having to use my knees to mount each step and that was where the “burn” hit me.
I was exhausted and my knees and left hip were killing me. I sat down on the step and tried to look outward, to see nothing. I was able to take off the backpack and i realized two things. I had no canteens….and no weapons. And i immediately thought of Isaiah and THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS. To prepare a path for the KING….to build up a highway in the desert. What was funny was the feeling that this was not quite what old Isaiah was talking about.
After a short rest i “felt” like i had to keep moving. The sense of not having a lot of time was there. I can not explain it but i knew i had to finish this “journey”. I also realized i needed to put on the backpack. I was not to leave it behind. So i again mounted up and started to climb. I did not get very far before i realized i was hurting real bad. My left leg was on fire and i was drenched in sweat. I also realized the Steps were almost like rungs. I could stop, but i could not turn and sit like i had before. I kept pushing upward and suddenly my leg buckled under me and i collapsed on the rung i was trying to climb.
It was at this point i realized i was in trouble. Under my “bottom” i could “feel” about 2-3 inches of stone holding me up as my legs dangled in “space”. I was hugging the next rung with my cheek and elbows. I tried briefly to look back and down when i felt a sudden wave of VERTIGO and realize for the first time i could fall off. So i hugged the stone step and prayed real hard. I do not know what i was praying but it was serious.
“Can’t stay here”.…
I do not know how long i stayed cringing and clutching to the steps i was on. But for the first time in this whole “vision” i heard THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT say “YOU CAN’T STAY HERE.” I listened and knew i had to get to my “feet” again. But found it near impossible to shift my weight and stay on the ladder. For some reason i remembered JACOB’S LADDER and said something like “Gee, LORD, i could use an angel right now.” I was not trying to be flippant. I was scared. SERIOUSLY SCARED. I thought about dropping the backpack. only to realize i had not carried “my own” backpack in a long time. It was there where i realized the line about “MY BURDEN” is light did not appear to cover my journeys in THE SECOND HEAVEN. Which is when i got one foot on the rung and was able to push up.
I do not know how many more “rungs” i climbed. But somewhere along the line an old song came to mind where the line went about “climbing a stairway to heaven”. And i laughed. Led Zeppelin never had what i was doing in mind. And as i pushed up another rung i realized Billy Graham and the Southern Baptists never told about this one either. At that point i stopped and asked why i was thinking about LED ZEPPELIN, BILLY AND THE BAPTISTS.… But there was no answer….so i kept going…. AT THE TOP I can not tell you when i made it to the TOP….but i did. It was anticlimactic. I simply ran out of rungs. And i found myself crawling out on a “ledge/platform” more than large enough to hold all of me stretched out. I was exhausted and i was hurting. I had no desire to look “down”. But looking forward and to the side i was in “white out”. I could distinguish nothing from nothing. I had no idea whether to go left or right or forward. As hard as the climb had been i had a direction and a purpose. So i sat down and took off the pack, leaning on it.
It was at this point i realized the only “WORD” i had gotten was on the “ladder”… in mid climb. Now i was in both “blindness” and “silence”. For some reason i realized i was not “LEGALLY” blind or deaf. And i immediately thought “Now what does that mean, LORD?” But i got no answer. Instead i woke up. Gasping for breath, exhausted, and intense pain in my fingers, knees and left hip. IT IS NOW 6:56….. And as i type this i am reliving the whole thing. Few new scriptures come to mind and i wonder what this was all for. i know i am in a place and time i go nowhere, do nothing unless THE MASTER says to. Scripture says we are to walk as HE DIRECTS. That there are covenant promises on doing so. I keep thinking of Deuteronomy and the blessings and cursings. If we obey.…
And right now i am remembering the Scripture where ADONAI tells ABRAHAM for the last time about the covenant. And the add on about THE GATES OF YOUR ENEMIES.…
I sit here awaiting RHEMA…or something. Instead there are images… all scriptural, but just images. So anyone can interpret them however they might want.
And the only thing i “hear” is a term….”IMPASSE”..…
Spiritually there is a place where we have to come to a stop. And just hunker down. NOWHERE TO GO and NOTHING TO SAY.
And suddenly i “see” a bunch of children at play…playing “RED LIGHT/ GREEN LIGHT”. and i hear the old BYRDS song TURN, TURN, TURN….there is a time to stop….and a time to go. That’s the answer. selah bob