Field of Dreams

I've been thinking about the movie "Field of Dreams" recently. It's one of my favorite movies. The movie is taking on more significance in my life as I walk the narrow path with Jesus. Over the past several months, the Lord has awoken me very early in the morning (between 3 and 4 a.m.) and spoken to me. I can hear Him very clearly when He speaks. Typically, He speaks to me in simple sentences. I'm always startled by what I hear and I never understand what He tells me until later. The best way to describe what's happening is by reference to the movie "Field of Dreams."

If you've seen the movie, you know that Kevin Costner's character (Ray Kinsella) hears a voice that gives him cryptic instructions. He has to piece together what he is hearing like a child doing a puzzle. First he tears down part of his cornfield - which he and his family depend on for financial support - and builds a baseball diamond complete with bleachers and lights for evening games. People think he his crazy (think of Noah building his ark and what people thought of him).

Hearing that voice again, Kinsella then goes on a wild goose chase across the country, finally ending up in Boston with Terence Mann, a famous author and 1960's reactionary (played by James Earl Jones) sitting in Fenway Park watching a baseball game together. It was there at Fenway Park where they both see the sign telling them what to do next: "Go the distance."

And off they go, in pursuit of something they know is real, true and important, but exactly what, they do not know.

Finding their way back to the Iowa cornfield and the newly constructed baseball diamond with a young baseball player ("Moonlight" Graham) they picked up along the way who was hitchhiking, something magical happens: Baseball players from the past - legendary players - appear out of the cornfield and begin playing baseball. The believers - which include Mann, Kinsella, his wife and daughter - can see the ball players, but the non believers cannot. Those who don't believe think the whole baseball thing is a sham. Ray's brother-in-law counsels him to shut the field down and declare bankruptcy. But Ray believes the voice he heard: "If you build it, they will come."

It is only when Ray's daughter falls off the back of the bleachers and chokes on a hot dog and is brought back to life by one of the ballplayers that the non believers can see what's been going on.

Love made it's appearance and everything changed. Profoundly! People could see what they couldn't see before. It's a very powerful scene in the movie.

The movie ends when Costner's character sees a younger version of his dad on the baseball field. The two look at each other, and Ray asks his dad if he wants to play catch. The lights go on, and son and father are out playing catch on a baseball field in the middle of cornfield. Love is everywhere. In the final scene, rows and rows of cars are driving to the ball park to watch the players from the past play baseball.

Ray built the stadium, and people came to watch, just as the voice told him.

I feel a lot like Ray Kinsella. About one week ago, I was awoken by the words "Open the door." I was sound asleep, but I heard the Lord clearly. It was 3:15 a.m. in the morning and all was quiet. I wrote the words down on a pad near my bed. I had no idea what the words "open the door" meant.

In the days after the event, I kept asking the Lord to reveal the meaning of the words. All I got was silence... until today. It's Sunday and I typically spend the morning reading Spiritual materials. I happen to have printed out an article by T. Austin-Sparks recently but hadn't had a chance to read it until today. Just before picking up the article, I had said a prayer to the Lord - a powerful prayer. I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as I prayed. After the prayer, I picked up the article and here's what I read:

The Deliverance of Souls

by T. Austin-Sparks

An Exodus Accomplished

Reading: Luke 9:27-36; 2 Pet. 1:16-18; John 18:33-37; Col. 1:13.

"There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God."

"My kingdom is not of this world."

"...who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love."

"Behold, there talked with him two men, who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."

It is not fresh knowledge to you that that word translated 'decease' in the Revised Version, elsewhere 'departure ' or' death', is really the word 'exodus' - "spake of his exodus which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem". So the Cross is spoken of here as an exodus, which is simply a way or a going out, and the word itself, of course, immediately carries us back to a book which goes by that name, and records the going out of the people of Israel from Egypt. What the exodus was to Israel, the Cross was to the Lord Jesus and is for us - a way and a going out, but a going out through a definitely prescribed door, and that door the door of death. That was the only way out for Israel - through the door of death. It was the only way out for the Lord Jesus, and it is the only way out for us...

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Having read this passage, I sat stunned. I thought to myself: 'The only way out for us is the door of death.' And then I thought of the words the Lord gave me last week: 'Open the door.'

I realized instantly that the door the Lord was instructing me to open last week at 3:15 a.m. in the morning was the door of death. This is the only way forward. Eternal life is only accomplished through death on the Cross. As Sparks said in his piece, it was the only way out for Israel and it was the only way out for Jesus.

And it is the only way out for us.

So I must open the door of death. How I do this, I am not sure. I have never seen the door of death, but I know it exists (everything the Lord tells me is true) and I also know that I must open it. I have asked the Lord for assistance and trust He will guide me. I know the door isn't a physical door - it's a spiritual door that my surrendered heart must pass through in order to continue walking the narrow path with Him.

I've come to realize that walking the narrow path with the Lord is a mind blowing adventure, akin to the experience Ray Kinsella had in "Field of Dreams." I'm sure there are a few people out there who think I am crazy, just like Ray! I guess that goes with the territory. I do know that there is a powerful entanglement that defies scientific explanation. It's real, but I cannot prove it. I can only write about my experiences and follow the Lord's instructions. In the end, that's what obedience is - following the Lord's instruction.

I have no idea what lies ahead, but I do know that I must open the door of death and walk through it.

May you find the strength to preserve in your walk with the Lord and may your faith never waver.

Agape,

Steve