pat loughery

I don’t dream too much when I’m sleeping these days – or if I am, I don’t remember them. At some times in my life, I’ve dreamed a lot, and many of those dreams had a spiritual influence.

But on Wednesday night of this week, I had a dream. I dreamed that I was in Cincinnati, and I was visiting Vineyard Central, where Kevin Rains is (whose blog I follow) and where Dave Nixon is (whose job I covet :-), as he gets to do spiritual formation and leadership classes and retreats). It was a long dream, as dreams go. I got to see the building and meet some people and also go walk around the neighborhood (and also visit the lakes and ponds and rivers that aren’t actually part of the geography of VC’s property, them being in a neighborhood and my dream also including 50-100 acres of wilderness.

Thursday morning, my friend Steve, a fellow church planter from the same sending church, emailed me to tell me that he had been training to be a spiritual director, and asking if I’d like to become one of his directees. I was super excited, because I’ve been seeking and praying for a spiritual director that I felt a connection with. I’ve met several but never felt the click. With Steve, I think we’ll have that.

When i talked to Steve, I asked where he was studying spiritual direction. I assumed that he was at Mars Hill Graduate School, which is here in Seattle and has a certificate program in SD.

Steve told me that he was in fact working with Sustainable Faith in Cincinnati in their School of Spiritual Direction, with Dave Nixon, who lives at Vineyard Central, and that for his program, he regularly flies back to Cincinnati.

Hmm. Well, isn’t that interesting. Sounds just like a God thing to me.