The Expiration Date

Friday, September 19, 2008, 6:58 a.m. – I woke with this song again:

My Jesus, My Savior / Michael W. Smith

My Jesus, My Saviour,
Lord there is no one like you,
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You.

Chorus:
Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,
Power and majesty, praise to the King!
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar,
At the sound of your name!
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

I also woke from A DREAM: A friend who lives in China (in real life) was sitting in the back seat of a car next to me. She handed me a piece of candy that she told me was old, i.e. past the date of sale, but she said it was not too old. I asked her not to tell me the expiration date, because I figured what I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me.

Then, we sat next to each other in a classroom right in front of the podium of the teacher, maybe a science teacher. Prior to this, we were at some kind of event where the people were divided right and left. I was in the group on the right and in fact I directed a group of people in singing what sounded like a Christian song of some sort. And, I made it really upbeat. We sang in parts; in harmony and it sounded good to me. Afterwards, though, we were told we could not sing that again.

Then the people on the left had someone playing a classical piece of music on a piano, only the person supposedly playing was not really playing at all but was just pretending to play. Behind him or her was a half-curtain and behind the curtain was the person who was really playing the piano, who eventually was revealed.

Anyway, this song that our group on the right sang was supposed to help us to solve some kind of a mystery or problem, so the people who stopped us from singing basically halted that process we needed to go through in order to make that discovery or to solve that mystery.

Ok, back to the classroom… My friend from China and I were sitting next to each other in front of the teacher when I (or we) told the teacher what happened. My husband, I believe, had already begun to help us and I think the teacher was now going to help us, too. He just had to remember that we were there. He said something like he was not used to anyone sitting in front of him. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Jeremiah 24:

Two Baskets of Figs
1 After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD. 2 One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
3 Then the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
"Figs," I answered. "The good ones are very good, but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten."

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 5 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

8 " 'But like the poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. 9 I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of ridicule and cursing, wherever I banish them. 10 I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.' "

My Understanding: I see these parallels between the dream and the scripture:
• My friend and I were being transported in the back seat of a car, and v.1 here speaks of people being carried into exile
• My friend and I sat in front of the teacher and his podium, and v.1 speaks of two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD
• My friend handed me a piece of candy that was past the date of expiration, and v.2 speaks of poor figs (similar to a date) that were so bad they could not be eaten
• There were two groups of people divided right and left and there were two baskets of figs in this passage of scripture

Also, the bit about the person playing the piano being fake reminded me of the Olympic ceremony in China where a girl lip sang while another girl did the actual singing. It also reminded me of how the Lord had previously made a parallel between this incident and Barack Obama, stating that he is basically “lip syncing” the words of another.

I see two possible divisions here: 1) Democrat and Republican, i.e. left and right, or 2) China and America. There could be others.

I also see that these following articles may play into the understanding of this dream:

Morgan Stanley Said to Be in Talks With China’s CIC
Quote from Bloomberg article: Mark Lake, a spokesman at Morgan Stanley in New York, declined to comment.
Mack tried unsuccessfully earlier this week to persuade Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup Inc., to combine their two companies, the New York Times reported today, citing people briefed on the talks. A Citigroup spokeswoman, Christina Pretto, said comments the Times attributed to Mack were ``never stated.''
Mack got a call from Wachovia yesterday indicating interest, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Talks about a deal with Wachovia have ``advanced,'' CNBC reported today. A merger with Wachovia could involve dividing the assets of both companies into two separate entities, a ``good bank'' and a ``bad bank,'' the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter… http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ao0BD9Zuhy3E&refer=home#
Possible financial crisis fix sends stocks soaring http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080919/D939IUFO0.html

SEC bans short-selling http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/19/news/economy/sec_short_selling/index.htm?cnn=yes

Paulson: Congress Has No Authority Here
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/commen...n-congres.html

Paulson Plan Could Cost $1 Trillion
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13602.html