Last night I had a dream. I was standing in line to see Jesus and receive
my eternal placement. The anticipation
of not only seeing Jesus, but hearing my eternal destination was overwhelming and
terrifying. I went over and over in my
mind how I had chosen to live my life and my personal relationship with God. I knew I could have done better and that
scared me. Finally, my turn was up,
Jesus looked at me, looked through his papers and stated, “you must run 25,000
miles before going into Heaven”. What?! My heart sank, I was devastated, but
determined that I must run those 25,000 miles.
I then proceeded to go to a green grassy field, where I was instructed
to run my miles and upon completion I would be re-evaluated for entry into
Heaven. Next to the green grassy area
was a wooden bridge, crossing over into a new place (that of which I did not
realize the significance until later on).
My total miles completed was
around 20,000, when Jesus decided to check in with me. He asked me what I was learning and how many
miles I had left. I thought to myself, “what
I was learning?...” I was totally not
expecting that question. I had to think
about it. Suddenly, I realized I was
actually learning way more than I realized.
As I was running, I was also reflecting back on my life. I began to understand the purpose of running
25,000 miles. It was not to earn my way,
but it was meant to reflect back on what I could have done better, and how I
could have influenced more lives for God’s Kingdom.
I started to discuss with Jesus opportunities
that I missed and where I took a backseat to what He was asking me to do. After this time of reflection, Jesus had to
be on His way. He looked at me with His
eyes of ultimate, unconditional love, which made me feel astounded, amazed, and
overwhelmed with a love that I had never known before. As He walked away, to my surprise, I shouted
out, “I love you!” He looked at me and
replied, “I love you too”. This test of
25,000 miles was all about obedience, perseverance, and learning to love. Running was no longer a task, it was
something that I wanted to do because I loved my Father.
The day was finally here, I had
run the 25,000 miles, Jesus looked at me and we walked across the wooden bridge
and into His eternal Kingdom.
This morning, I woke up and knew
this dream was not just intended for me, but that I needed to be obedient and
share its message with others. The completion
of running 25,000 miles was not to earn my way into Heaven. Nothing we do will ever earn our way into
Heaven. Salvation is freely given when
we accept God and His gift to each of us.
Ephesians 2:8-9,
“God saved you by his grace when you
believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things
we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (New Living Translation).
This dream signifies that God
desires us to not only be obedient and persevere through the trials in this
world, but to remember the love that He has for each of us. That love is not menial, it is not
insignificant, it is real and alive, and He desires us to love Him back. As I was running those 25,000 miles, I began
to realize just how much Jesus desires me to love Him. That love that I have for Him, enables me to
complete tasks that are far beyond what any of us could do on our own. This love means ultimate obedience and endurance
to complete this life, in which we have been given. We should not take this lightly, we should
run 25,000 miles. What in your life
seems like running 25,000 miles that you have been putting off? If you were to stand face-to-face with God and
tell Him that you love Him, what would you be compelled to do?
