Sunday, April 6th, 2008: Early AM Dream/Vision

I had a dream/vision this night early in the morning about the name of the church Jesus has relentlessly been hounding me about (this is an area that I am trying to “ignore” Him on but His voice is a little louder then my denial). I have resisted Him on this topic for about two weeks, if not a little longer. The dream started in an indescript dark area or “room.” There was a group of about 25-30 people huddled in a round mass and I was standing a little apart form them - facing them. I recognized some of them and the rest I had never seen before. They were talking to me about the name I should call this church.

In the chaos, I noticed what we “think” Jesus looks like standing in the middle of the crowd: Jewish robes, medium length black thick hair with a beard. They apparently didn’t see him. So I stepped out on a limb and asked Him if they could see Him and He said, “No.” His voice was clear and the other voices sounded muddled, like the Charlie Brown Teacher, “waab waab wab waub waab…”. Jesus stepped through the crowd like a ghost and said, “ I want you to call the church… The Open Box Church.” I started to laugh. I seriously thought He was joking with me. I realized He wasn’t and argued that the name didn’t sound right, didn’t rhythm, didn’t catch, would never work. At this point I remember thinking, while having this dream, that this was a stupid dream.

Before this thought finished, the crowd disappeared and everything went black. I noticed in the distance that there was a cardboard box in the middle of the area where the crowd had just moments been. It was about 3×3x3ft and was just your regular cardboard box with no writing on the sides. It was moving like something was inside. The flaps were inner locked. Suddenly, a hand bust out of the top (rt hand) and the other hand (lft hand) came out like someone was exploding out of the box. The proportions were all wrong. The person coming out was larger than the box could have allowed. I knew that this was Jesus exploding from the box because I saw nail scars that peirced His wrists, then the back of His head appeared and I could make out a crown of thorns. Light was pouring out of the box with such intensity that it made your eyes water just to look at what was unfolding. As His left hand came to rest in front of the box, I noticed red seeping through the two sides of the box that was facing me. It looked as if it was blood soaking through the cardboard but it was moving in a weird way. The spreading blood started to take shape and that shape became the crisp lines of font that spelled “OPEN BOX CHURCH.”

This image that was before me froze and I heard Jesus say, “I am so tired of being cramped in this box that everyone puts me in. That religion puts me in. It doesn’t fit, it constrains me. They can not contain me. I AM THAT I AM!” There was a moment of silence and then He said, ”When are you going to let me out of the box you have made for me!?!” I replied… “Lord, I think that is why I don’t have a job at the moment (for a later post), because I have never placed you in a box and get released from emplyment becasue I say… show me in the Bible where it says that…” He replied, “You have placed me in this box because you say I smoke crack.” (Note: This was the words that came out of my mouth when I realized days earlier that He was calling me to a deeper calling then I thought I could handle. He was showing me some things through prayer and reading His Word and it hit me what He was saying… that my calling was going deeper, deeper as in founding a church. In my realization I said, “Whooa there Jesus, I didn’t think you smoked crack… I can’t do what I think you are telling me to do…”). He continued… “You have placed me in this box because you do not believe that I can do what I am calling you to do. You don’t think I can accomplish my will in your life. You have confined me.” Everything went black.

I woke up and instantly slid from the bed to the floor and started to repent for not believing that God can do what He wants to do in my life. It took three days of this dream invading every waking moment, but I sketched what I saw in my journal. I showed the sketch to a close friend of mine and he said he didn’t know about all that… but that that was a pretty awesome logo! I realized that not only had Jesus gave me the name of the church, but He had also given me the logo for the church as well.