What would you do if this were your dream?

You are going about your normal routine, just going through an average day. You blink.

Your eyes open. Suddenly, you are on one of the streets of New York City. It's chaos. Even more than usual. The ground is shaking. There are animals everywhere. It's like Noah's Ark just deposited its contents at your feet. There are people everywhere screaming, some in confusion and fear, others in exultation. There is looting and rioting and partying all rolled up into one massive event.

The End of Days has come. This is Judgement Day.

You blink again.You are still somewhere in New York City. You can sense that, just as you can sense all that other stuff still going on in the background. But now, you are in an impossibly large cathedral with an immense vaulted ceiling, possibly a Christian church of some type, though you can't tell for sure.

And it is starting to fill up. It is just a little at first, people and animals coming in twos and threes. Then more and more till it seems as if the entire population of the Earth is trying to squeeze inside these walls.

You stand before the altar and a soft golden white light starts to emanate from you.Well, it starts out soft but begins to get brighter and brighter. As time goes on it becomes as bright as the noonday sun. A gentle warmth begins to flow from this aura. It caress and heals the good souls around you. For the wicked, this aura becomes an unbearable harsh burning sensation.They can't even look your way without cringing in pain. Your aura blisters their skin and sends them,literally, screaming from the building.

Voices begin proclaiming you The One. The Prophet. The Messiah. You shake your head. You tell them you are just a simple human being like everyone else. People are pushing forward, clamoring just to touch your clothing, struggling to get closer. Your body begins to levitate. You are just a few inches off the ground. The voices get louder. The impossibly bright light gets brighter. And then...

You wake up.

I had this dream at least twice a week for a couple of years. It was a lot more vivid. I have described things as succinctly as possible here so as not to make the description 200,000 words. The dream was exactly the same every time, down to the last detail. And if I close my eyes I can still see it happening.

For awhile I told myself that this dream didn't mean anything at all. It kept happening though, and nothing I did seemed to make it stop. So I decided there had to be a reason for it though, at first I wasn't sure what it meant. I mean, I am not Jesus. That role was already taken. There are some correlations though. My birthday is Christmas and the Latin root for my name does mean one who takes the place of another. But still that wasn't quite right.

Finally I figured it out. Someone or something, be it my subconscious or some outside influence, was telling me that my role in life was to be a leader. I really didn't have any interest in leading others, so I resisted and the dream persisted. I didn't want to be a Savior or Messiah.

I never thought I was qualified to be a leader. It was my ambition just to get through life day to day the best way I knew how. The idea that others would want to follow me was a foreign concept, it confused me.

Then my perspective shifted. I found that I am good at solving problems and learning new ways of doing things to keep old problems from re-occurring. And I found that others saw my example and wanted the same for their lives. I do like showing others how to fix the problems in their lives and seeing their lives improve.

I enjoy learning and I enjoy teaching. I live by example. I am a natural leader. Are you?