Zzzzzzzz.......

There's this weird thing. You fall asleep and at some point you wake up and can hear whats going on around you but it's like only your mind is awake but your body can't move. Like you're only 1/2 awake. It's a real condition that has a name but I don't remember it so I know it's not just me. It happened to me in math class in 9th grade, at least that's the first time I remember it. I had pre-algebra right after lunch with Mr. Thomas. Who puts a math class right after lunch? Remember as a kid (this is going back a few years) riding down the highway in the back seat and the drone of the tires on the road and the ka-thunk ka-thunk of the joints in the road would lull you right into dreamland. Man that was good sleep! Mr. Thomas' voice was very monotone and sounded a lot like the highway and zzzzz... . Here was the weird thing. I was asleep, soft snore and drool coming out of my mouth and everything but I could hear him and and other sounds too but I couldn't move. I felt like I was in a box, all packed away and didn't know if it would open. So in my mind I paniced 'cause I'm claustrophobic and don't like being in small boxes. "Someone wake me up" I would scream. "In space no one can here you scream" was the tag line for the movie Alien. Apparently the same holds true in math class. Eventually Mr. Thomas would slap a ruler on the desk and yell "Wake up peckerhead" and bring me around. Don't think he was actually allowed to say that.

Hummm. That seemed like a long paragraph.

So I was talking to this guy the other day and he said he hated his job but it was all he knew. He felt trapped in a big box and couldn't get out. The top was open and he could see freedom, feel the breeze of freedom and hear others enjoying their freedom. But he was trapped. Had been and would be as far into the future as he could imagine. A lot of anguish in this guy. And truthfully I've been there a lot myself. I told him a few hollow pieces of advice about fixing your eyes on Jesus blah blah blah... . It did no good. Not that it wasn't good advice but when you're in the middle of some serious crap in life "fixing your eyes" is harder to do than gargling paint thinner. I really felt bad for the guy. He just wanted out.

This sleep thing. I still have that problem from time to time. During the night. Not math class (which, surprise surprise, I flunked) I "wake up" and know it's happening and I feel like I can't breath and I think I'm going to die and I buck and shake and flail about while my body remains still. Too freaky. Somewhere alone the way though I've managed to learn to moan out loud enough for Terri to hear and she rolls over and shoves me and that's all it takes to free me from my box. It sometimes is really scary. It seems so real. The trapped feeling I mean. So glad for my wife.

It's what I needed to do for my friend. A shove. A push. A big kiss. Ok, that's awkward. Sometimes what people need is not a word, spiritual though it may be, but an action. I could hear Mr. Thomas. I can hear Terri's snor.....breathing. Action is the word for the day kids. Go bowling, hiking, catch a movie, watch the game. Get together for lunch, for prayer, for fishing. Go serve someone in need. Together. Be a friend. Help them walk "through the valley of the shadow of death". Be there. That's all. Just be there.