Teaching did go well on Sunday, especially considering what happened to me the night before.
I had the usual nervousness and anxiety leading up to Sunday morning. I studied and worked on my message most of Saturday and I didn't eat nearly enough during the day. At dinner on Saturday, there was the usual weekend options--leftover pasta, casserole, etc.--and I wasn't really hungry anyway, but I forced myself to get a bowl of some questionable shrimp alfredo pasta. Later that night I had some of my RA's half-birthday cake, I practiced my lesson a little bit, and went to bed at around midnight, early for a Saturday night, to make sure I would be alert in the morning.
I tossed and turned for a little bit, hoping to get to sleep as soon as possible and not waste any time. Of course, the more I tried to sleep, the more awake I became. My stomach started to get a little upset, I was hot, and just overall uncomfortable. This went on for hours as I would drift in and out of consciousness, with five different conversations going on in my head, as well as the Jewel song "Foolish Games." I was really frustrated and although I didn't feel like throwing up, my stomach was alive and disturbing me in any way it could. I wished I could just throw everything up and relieve myself of the inconsiderate mass in my stomach.
After about 4 hours of this, I got up to walk around a little bit. I drank some water, read over my notes again, just to keep them fresh, and went back to bed. This time I was actually able to sleep, but the results weren't much better.
My dream started out in an unrecognizable house on campus. My family was there, and I knew I was going to teach in the morning. The dream seemed to picked up where I left off, so everything seemed to be really happening. There was a thunderstorm going on outside, so I waited a while to walk over to our church, giving myself little leeway. I was usually late on Sunday mornings, and since I wouldn't be preaching until after the singing I had a little bit of a cushion. Halfway to the church, I realized that I forgot my notes so, frustrated, I made my way back to the house I had been staying in. In the time I had left, someone had installed an escalator that I had to go on to make it up to the house. I rode the escalator up.....and up......and up, until it dropped off and I went crashing down to the bottom, feeling the exhiliration of being completely unsupported in the air, and the terror of going down. I recovered quickly, and deciding to climb up the stairwell, not on the stairs but on the outside. Security guards quickly stopped me and threatened to arrest me, but I desperately pleaded with them and finally I was able to make it back to the house. I grabbed my notes and tried to sprint as fast as I could to church, but I was stuck in slow-motion and it took me forever to get there. I finally got there at 10:45, one hour and forty-five minutes late. Everyone was gone except for one of the students. I felt horrible about missing my teaching, but a little relieved now that I wouldn't have to do it. He informed me that Jonny ended up having to make up something on the spot and it wasn't very good.
I knew Jonny would probably be angry with me, so I tried to hunt him down right away to apologize. I figured he would be at the regular church service, so I climbed the stairs to the sanctuary, only to find that he was leaving for a retreat on a school bus. I got on the school bus and slowly approached him and Christine at the back of the bus. I could tell Jonny was angry because he didn't even acknowledge my existence at first. I turned to Christine and realized I was in trouble because she wouldn't even look at me. I tried to get Jonny's attention, but he ignored me at first. Finally, he didn't even greet but just started to yell. "Do you know how hard it is to make up something on the spot?!? It was the worst sermon I have ever preached!" This made me feel even worse about it, and with that I woke up, my bed soaked in sweat. It was 7:00 a.m. and I had two and a half hours until I had to teach and two hours of sleep.
Anyway, it did go well, and I'll be teaching again in a month or so.
See ya soon,
Brandon
