Using Our Spiritual Gifts to Glorify God
The Fish
Any insight, guidance, etc. is welcomed and appreciated!
It started with a dream.
I dreamed that my daughters Maggie and Missy and I went to the Newport Aquarium down by Cincinnati. We were walking by a large aquarium full of really bizarre looking creatures in a simulated deep sea environment and Missy quipped "wow, something smells fishy in here!" I told her to put a quarter in the pun jar and that's about all I remember of the dream.
Two days later, at 2:00 pm on Sunday, September 14, our power went out. Although we didn't know it at the time, it would be out for 170 hours -- it would come back on Sunday, September 21 at 4:07 pm.
On Monday, the 15th, Maggie came up from Cincinnati, and later that afternoon she and I and Missy went to Meijer's to try to find some necessities. While we were walking through the store, in the main aisle, I stepped into an unseen puddle of water and fell flat on my back. My legs went up underneath the shopping cart I was pushing and both of them wound up extremely bruised and hurting. (As I write this, on the 25th, a full ten days later, my legs are both still bruised and the left one is still tender to the touch.)
Maggie and Missy went to find the manager and about five or six minutes after I fell, we noticed that it wasn't just water I'd slipped in. Someone had apparently gotten a bag full of live fish -- fancy guppies at the cost of five for $2.95 -- and had dropped the bag in the floor. Three of the fish were still flopping around in the water -- that's how much was on the floor -- one was laying mostly out of the water and had died and the other one was a smear. I want to hope it was the wheel of the cart that got it, not my shoe -- or worse, my butt or back as I landed on the floor.
On Tuesday, the 16th, another dream. In this one, Missy and I are walking along a beach. We can see fish swimming in the shallow water and we step into the water to wade with them. Suddenly there is a microscope in the water and I kneel down to look through the eye piece and I see a miniscule mermaid on a slide. She's alive, she's smiling and she's waving at me. Missy looks and then we gently remove the slide from the microscope and set her free. When she hits the water, she suddenly pops up and expands like one of those little sponge capsules that pop open and unfold into a sponge creature about ten times the size of the capsule. She swims over, kisses each of us on our cheeks and says "you now carry my mark as well as the mark of the angels." I ask her what her mark means but she just smiles and swims away. I awaken feeling happy even though we still have no power.
On Wednesday, the 17th, Missy and I had gone over to Dad's house for a couple hours. As we were leaving the neighborhood -- at night, in pitch black because no one's power had come back on yet -- we turned on Oxmoor street and laying on the side of the road (I had to swerve left to avoid it) was a large fish. A real fish. I actually backed up and shined my lights on it. It was about 10-12 inches long, about 5-6 inches at its widest part and sort of a grey-blue-green with a faint reddish stripe along its underbelly. It was definitely a real (albeit dead!) fish. There was no debris laying around it, like it had been in someone's trash or something. It was just laying there on the side of the road.
I said to Missy, "okay, this is really weird. Help me figure this out." I started telling her about all the recent fish incidents and as we were driving along, a car pulled up at a lightless intersection beside us. His back window had one of those window decals that are clear with white letters. It read "pisces." Missy said "okay, that's just given me goosebumps."
On the radio a few moments later -- Brad Paisely's "I'm gonna miss her" about a guy whose wife gives him an ultimatum: he can either go fishing (and she will leave him) or he can stay home this weekend. He chooses to go fishing, and hopes that she'll change her mind, but if not, he's gonna miss her.
Thursday, the 18th, Missy and I are coming home from the grocery store where we've picked up two bags of ice -- one for us, one for Dad. The lights on the "Long John Silver's" suddenly pop on as we're driving past -- they'd just gotten their power back. Fish, again.
Friday, the 19th, I walk out to the mailbox and pull out a stack of items including a birthday card sent to me by a friend -- on the card is a scene with trees and a little stream beside a meadow. Jumping out of the stream, are (of course) two fish.
Sunday, the 21st. I've gone to bed, our power has finally come back. I'm happy. I'm dreaming. In my dream, an old lady says to me "remember the parable of the loaves and the fishes." Swell, I think, the fish thing is still continuing. She laughs, as if she has heard my thoughts. She hands me a shimmery soft bag, and inside it I find a crystal necklace, a soft green gown, a pair of light green slippers, undergarments and a lace scarf. I put everything on and when I turn to pick up the bag, it's gone. The old lady is gone too. I start walking along a path until I come to an intersection. I can go left, right, straight ahead or I could turn around and go back. As I'm contemplating which path I want to take, I wake up.
Tuesday, the 23rd. Two minutes before midnight, I am watching a You Tube Video and the guy says "so I took my girlfriend out to Arthur Treacher's fish and chips ..."
It's presently Thursday, the 25th at 3:00 a.m. I'm getting ready to go to bed. And hoping for some illumination on what's up with all these fish!
It started with a dream.
I dreamed that my daughters Maggie and Missy and I went to the Newport Aquarium down by Cincinnati. We were walking by a large aquarium full of really bizarre looking creatures in a simulated deep sea environment and Missy quipped "wow, something smells fishy in here!" I told her to put a quarter in the pun jar and that's about all I remember of the dream.
Two days later, at 2:00 pm on Sunday, September 14, our power went out. Although we didn't know it at the time, it would be out for 170 hours -- it would come back on Sunday, September 21 at 4:07 pm.
On Monday, the 15th, Maggie came up from Cincinnati, and later that afternoon she and I and Missy went to Meijer's to try to find some necessities. While we were walking through the store, in the main aisle, I stepped into an unseen puddle of water and fell flat on my back. My legs went up underneath the shopping cart I was pushing and both of them wound up extremely bruised and hurting. (As I write this, on the 25th, a full ten days later, my legs are both still bruised and the left one is still tender to the touch.)
Maggie and Missy went to find the manager and about five or six minutes after I fell, we noticed that it wasn't just water I'd slipped in. Someone had apparently gotten a bag full of live fish -- fancy guppies at the cost of five for $2.95 -- and had dropped the bag in the floor. Three of the fish were still flopping around in the water -- that's how much was on the floor -- one was laying mostly out of the water and had died and the other one was a smear. I want to hope it was the wheel of the cart that got it, not my shoe -- or worse, my butt or back as I landed on the floor.
On Tuesday, the 16th, another dream. In this one, Missy and I are walking along a beach. We can see fish swimming in the shallow water and we step into the water to wade with them. Suddenly there is a microscope in the water and I kneel down to look through the eye piece and I see a miniscule mermaid on a slide. She's alive, she's smiling and she's waving at me. Missy looks and then we gently remove the slide from the microscope and set her free. When she hits the water, she suddenly pops up and expands like one of those little sponge capsules that pop open and unfold into a sponge creature about ten times the size of the capsule. She swims over, kisses each of us on our cheeks and says "you now carry my mark as well as the mark of the angels." I ask her what her mark means but she just smiles and swims away. I awaken feeling happy even though we still have no power.
On Wednesday, the 17th, Missy and I had gone over to Dad's house for a couple hours. As we were leaving the neighborhood -- at night, in pitch black because no one's power had come back on yet -- we turned on Oxmoor street and laying on the side of the road (I had to swerve left to avoid it) was a large fish. A real fish. I actually backed up and shined my lights on it. It was about 10-12 inches long, about 5-6 inches at its widest part and sort of a grey-blue-green with a faint reddish stripe along its underbelly. It was definitely a real (albeit dead!) fish. There was no debris laying around it, like it had been in someone's trash or something. It was just laying there on the side of the road.
I said to Missy, "okay, this is really weird. Help me figure this out." I started telling her about all the recent fish incidents and as we were driving along, a car pulled up at a lightless intersection beside us. His back window had one of those window decals that are clear with white letters. It read "pisces." Missy said "okay, that's just given me goosebumps."
On the radio a few moments later -- Brad Paisely's "I'm gonna miss her" about a guy whose wife gives him an ultimatum: he can either go fishing (and she will leave him) or he can stay home this weekend. He chooses to go fishing, and hopes that she'll change her mind, but if not, he's gonna miss her.
Thursday, the 18th, Missy and I are coming home from the grocery store where we've picked up two bags of ice -- one for us, one for Dad. The lights on the "Long John Silver's" suddenly pop on as we're driving past -- they'd just gotten their power back. Fish, again.
Friday, the 19th, I walk out to the mailbox and pull out a stack of items including a birthday card sent to me by a friend -- on the card is a scene with trees and a little stream beside a meadow. Jumping out of the stream, are (of course) two fish.
Sunday, the 21st. I've gone to bed, our power has finally come back. I'm happy. I'm dreaming. In my dream, an old lady says to me "remember the parable of the loaves and the fishes." Swell, I think, the fish thing is still continuing. She laughs, as if she has heard my thoughts. She hands me a shimmery soft bag, and inside it I find a crystal necklace, a soft green gown, a pair of light green slippers, undergarments and a lace scarf. I put everything on and when I turn to pick up the bag, it's gone. The old lady is gone too. I start walking along a path until I come to an intersection. I can go left, right, straight ahead or I could turn around and go back. As I'm contemplating which path I want to take, I wake up.
Tuesday, the 23rd. Two minutes before midnight, I am watching a You Tube Video and the guy says "so I took my girlfriend out to Arthur Treacher's fish and chips ..."
It's presently Thursday, the 25th at 3:00 a.m. I'm getting ready to go to bed. And hoping for some illumination on what's up with all these fish!
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