That night I lay down reflecting on the events of the day. It had started in Eastern Washington and now I was in Chino California. That in itself was significant but when I reflected on everything else it was almost overwhelming. What really spoke volumes to me was the fact that Hemby had opened that door. There were about a thousand locations in that building, but I had been assigned that particular tier that my friend Hemby just happened to be stationed for that very short period of time. What were the odds? It was off the charts! After the event in my cell in the Asotin County Jail last night, “wait a minute” was that last night? I could hardly believe that only a 24 hour period of time had passed since God had invaded my life. As I remembered the event my reasoning took over and tried to pull me into an arena of unbelief. The event was too incredible to pass off. What had transpired since then was nothing to scoff at either. I thought about my red bible with Chuck’s note in the front of it. It had been boxed up with my personal property and mailed to Joani’s parent’s house. I hoped that it would be safe, as I knew there was evidence of a life defining moment in that box of personal belongings.
I drifted off into a solid sleep. I had a very vivid dream, so vivid the details are clear after more than 22 years.
I walked up to a door and opened it. As I stepped inside the room I noticed that it was a gymnasium. There was a man in the gym. I knew this man. He was a young man about 18 or 19 who had been in the Asotin county jail with me. While we were in jail together he told me that he had used to be a satan worshiper. In that arena he had even called himself Beelzebub. Jesus had used this proper name to describe the “lord of flies” or the “father of lies”.
In the dream we began to have a conversation and he reached out with one hand and grabbed my left wrist. With the other hand he tried to pull my wedding ring from my finger. I had taken martial arts for a short period of time as a youngster, and I responded with the “wax on, wax off” arm movement made famous in the “Karate Kid” movie. Breaking free I placed a perfect round house kick barely over his head. I could feel his hair on my bare heel as it swooshed powerfully over his skull. I grabbed him by the throat as he fell to the hardwood floor. “Bobby I could take you out right now” I exclaimed to him. “I am not going to, I am telling you, you cannot hurt me nor do anything to me because God is with me!”
I woke up wondering what that was all about. My senses were heightened and I knew that the dream was significant. I wondered what time Hemby would be in. After breakfast I went back to my bunk. Shortly thereafter I heard my named called. Along with others, I was being transferred to Chino West. I was disappointed that I would not see Hemby again.
Soon we were taken into a room and shackled, and led onto a bus. We took about 15 or 20 minutes to arrive at the other facility. After sitting on the bus for what seemed like hours, we were taken into a small room with benches. We sat there for a long time, and finally they brought us a sack lunch.
It was hot. The room was packed and it stunk. Finally the offer started calling names. He was gathering inmates for specific housing assignments. At last I heard my name. I was called with about 8 inmates. We were grouped up and the officer began handing out “ducketts”. Ducketts were slips of paper with printed assignments on them. The authorities communicated with inmates in this matter. You received work assignments, doctor appointments and other official communication in this manner. I looked at the slip of paper that contained my bunk location. I was assigned to sleep in the gym!
What did this mean? Alarms went off in my head. Did the dream preclude this? I started praying under my breath. The thoughts that kept coming were my words in the dream “you can’t hurt me because God is with me”
We were led across the yard. This was a large facility, designed as “White collar crime” facility. It sprawled with about 3 story buildings in a oval that surrounded a running track. There was swimming pool, weights, and tennis courts. Looking back, the other inmates seemed thankful that they were here. I was just preoccupied with the dream.
As we walked on the paved trail toward the gym, I noticed a group of crows on my left hand side. As we got closer to their location they suddenly screeched very loud, and flew in front of me very close. I was alarmed as this was a very bad omen. The words kept coming back to me, “you can’t hurt me because God is with me”.
We walked into the gym. It was hot and packed with people. There were rows and rows of bunks. Due to the overcrowding of the system every available space was used to house inmates. There was a podium set up on the stage and an officer was making announcements. I heard a greeting, and I turned to see a group of young Hispanics gathered around a bunk set.
“Hey homeboy, where have you been?” I believed that I was hearing the voice of a friend. I turned and walked toward the bunk. As the man rose up from the bed, his countenance turned extremely ugly. Fear tried to grip me, but I kept hearing me own words, “you can’t hurt me because God is with me” I wonder now if David heard similar word as he faced Goliath.
I looked at the crowd. The man who was speaking asked me to let him see my wedding ring. No I said. He responded that he would buy it. I stood firm. He then grabbed my wrist, and attempted to pull my ring off. I broke the hold in the same manner that I had in the dream. He responded “we will stab you and take it then” Bold as a lion I responded “The only way that you will get my ring is to take it off my dead body!, besides you can’t hurt me because God is with me”
I looked him in the eyes the whole time, and my stare had become even more adamant. I heard the voices around me “wow dude you better leave him alone” and “he has the heart of a gunslinger!”
“No, I have the heart of a child of God”
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