Dreams and Visions

And afterward,
  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
  I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

-- from Joel 2:28-9 NIV

On this Thanksgiving Eve I am thankful for many things.

I am thankful for people, too.

I am thankful today for Peter and Catharine Bixler, who shared a dream.

Peter and Catharine were born in the early 1770s. They lived in the Piedmont Plateau of central Maryland, near the Mason Dixon Line.

They had at least one child, a boy, whom they named Benjamin. He was born in 1809 when his mom and dad were in their mid to late 30s.

As this couple grew older and their son became an adult, they shared their dream with him. "Son," one of them might have said, "God has been giving us a dream, a beautiful one, which we would now like to share with you."

"Yes, son," said the other, "We are growing older and we don't know how long the good Lord will keep us here on earth."

"Besides," said the first, "We are too old to make the dream come true."

"Father, mother, tell me your dream," said he. "Perhaps God will make it possible for me to be the one to make your dream come true."

Then they shared their dream with their son.

In the 1850s, this couple, old and full of days, passed away. They had each lived to age 81, some months more, and even a few days extra.

Benjamin, by now a married man, with a wife named Polly, laid them to rest in the family plot, which was located on a high mount in a field they had farmed during his parents' lives.

Benjamin and Polly mourned the loss of his parents, but they both remembered the couple's dream. Just over two decades passed.

Benjamin and Polly were by now in their late 60s. They had maintained the family cemetery plot, which, over the years, had become a burying place for neighbors and friends in the picturesque Bachman Valley, as it had become known.

One night Benjamin turned to Polly, in the glow of the fireplace, just before bedtime, and he told her, "Dearest, about a week ago I had a dream. It was my parents' dream. And when I awoke, I had a vision of their dream coming true."

"Tell me more," she said.

"I have been talking with our neighbors and friends about the dream and the vision God has given to make the dream come true. Everyone of them has volunteered to make it come true, too."

"Oh? That's great news! What can I do?"

"Well, dear, as we begin our work, you know we'll need plenty of food and drink to keep us going."

"How will I feed all those men?"

"Not to worry, dear. The other women said they would help cook and prepare the meals needed to help feed the workers."

And so it came to pass.

The very next Monday, after the harvest was all in, the friendly farmers and neighbors gathered at the farm of Benjamin and Polly. The men and women came prepared to help the dream of Peter and Catharine Bixler come true. They came to see the vision turn into reality.

And God blessed their work. God richly poured out His Spirit upon them.

And, in 1877, the long ago dream of Peter and Catharine Bixler came true. The vision of Benjamin and Polly Bixler became a lovely sight to see!

There, next to the graves of his loving parents, it stood.

The new log church became known as Bixlers United Brethren in Christ Church.

Two years later, in 1879, Peter himself was laid to rest in the cemetery next to the log chapel. Polly mourned the loss of her dear husband. She herself was laid to rest there 16 year later, right next to him. You can see their grave markers even to this day.

By the turn of the 19th century the log chapel was itself showing signs of age and the growing numbers attending the church clamored for a new structure.

By 1904 a new sanctuary of brick and frame materials took the place of the old chapel.

Lift up your eyes to God

The dream of Peter and Catharine, the vision of Benjamin and Polly Bixler, is now called Bixlers United Methodist Church.

You can see it even to this day.

Pay attention to your dreams. They may be from God.

If God gives you a vision to make His dream come true, go for it!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!