The 18th of June

Context

My family and I left the evening church service and came home. It was quite late and dark outside, but the weather was calm, so when my 2 daughters asked to play out in the back garden for a while before bedtime, I let them. My eldest daughter came in telling me she saw writing on the side of the shed.

I thought they were messing about with markers or crayons, but she then said the writing was glowing, and then it eventually faded away!

I asked her to write down what she saw. She wrote down this:

_ . _ -> 20

She is not one to just make stuff up and was wondering what it meant. It looked kind of like a date, except the day and month is missing. I thought 20 was a year as next year is 2020, it could be pointing to something next year. It looks kind of like the hangman game, where you guess the missing letters.

That night I prayed and asked God for revelation on what she saw. 2 days later, I had the following dream.

The Dream

I am outside in an open space, walking on grass. There are people everywhere, just walking about and minding their own business.

Suddenly glowing lights begin to appear in the sky. They look like lines and dots. A bit like this:

_ . _ . _                                _ . _
                     _ . _ . _ . _

I turn around behind me and see more lights. I turn again to a different part of the sky and see more lights. These lights are all around.

Everyone I see begins staring up at these lights.

While everyone is looking up, I look over to the horizon and begin to make out some blurry shapes in the distance. I try to focus on these shapes as they start to get closer. I can then make out what these shapes are. It is a vast number of dogs. So many that they fill the whole horizon from left to right, and they are running towards me and all the other people around me. There must be millions of them.

Everyone who was looking up at the lights also notices these dogs and everyone starts to panic. They all turn and run and I join them.

Dogs are fast. Much faster than people (unless you’re Usain Bolt). As I run, I know that all these dogs are slowly catching up. They will reach and overtake us if we keep running. I then see a wooden picnic bench table in the distance and get underneath it. Even though the picnic table is exposed, and I can be clearly seen underneath, I go under anyway as at least I will have some sort of covering rather than be completely out in the open (as I know I will be overrun eventually).

Picnic Bench

As I get under the table, everyone behind me continues to run on and pass me. The dogs are about to reach where I am. I see the dogs coming closer and they look vicious. There are so many, and I cannot possibly count them.

I expect many of them to try and attack me under the table, so I get in to position so I can be ready to kick and push them away. As they approach the table they run straight past me and continue on to the people who are now some way in the distance.

I’m not sure why they don’t attack me. It is like they don’t notice me under the picnic table (even though it has no covering and I can be clearly seen). The dogs run on and continue to chase the people.

I can hear people who are still running and screaming, but I can also hear people laughing. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps they can’t see the dogs yet and they don’t realise what is about to come upon them. I dare not turn around. I lie there frozen still, looking as dogs continually run past where I am. Still they come and still they run past me. It seems unending.

The laughter that I heard earlier stops. I can hear people getting bit with increasing severity: “ow”, “Ow!”, “OW!!!!”. Then I hear the shouts of pain turn to screams. I can’t see the people, I am still looking in the direction of where they ran from and still lie there frozen still. I do not want to turn around and see what is going on behind me.

This is also because I am still waiting for dogs to attack me under the table. I am still getting ready to fend them off, but they never come.

The screams from the people behind me who I can’t see increase in number and severity. They sound horrific, and I can just imagine people are being torn apart, but I dare not look.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I hear the voice of a man. He says “The 18th of June”.

Interpretation

In the Bible, dogs can be referred to as unjust people:

Revelation 22:15
Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Are these dogs the immoral people of the world? I also keep thinking of the phrase “Dogs of war”. There is a film of this name. Do these dogs symbolise soldiers? Is there a war coming?

In other parts of the Bible, dogs eat up those who received judgement. In the old testament, the dogs eat those belonging to Baasha, who was an evil king (but this was only those in the city).

1 Kings 16:4
Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.".

There were no birds in my dream (but I’m not sure what the lights in the sky were).

The dream could point to judgement against the unjust and evil people in the world. Yet, the Revelation verse descibes dogs as being the unrighteous, and it was the dogs who were doing the attacking.

I took refuge under a picnic table. I chose not to run with the multitudes, but took refuge instead under the table (even though it appeared to have no covering and little protection). I don’t know why, but I am thinking the picnic table is the “table of the Lord”. It may represent Jesus Christ. Even though I could clearly be seen, the dogs did not attack me under the table. It was like they couldn’t see me.

The man who said “18th of June” at the end, I didn’t see a man, I just heard his voice. I’m not sure how the dream ties up with the writing that my daughter saw.

This dream may seem toublesome, but for anyone who reading this, remember that there was a place of refuge. I am sure the table represented the Lord. The multitudes ran, but running did not help them. Rather than run, seek shelter in the Lord instead. He will protect us and keep us safe. He is the only one who can.

Even if the world around us is falling apart, and I would say even if we are persecuted and experience extreme hardship in this life, do not worry. Our time in this life is temporary and is but a moment when compared to eternity. We are safe in Christ. We just need to endure for the short time we are here and know that we are safe in Christ Jesus in a much better way than we are safe in this world.