DOA

I had a dream the other night, as real as it could be.
I guess you’d call it a nightmare.  It really unnerved me.
Shrill sirens pierced the still night air. I can recall the sound.
They sped towards the Interstate; the lane that was east bound.

Urgently they fought to extract the victims of the night
from twisted wreckage once called cars. It was a tragic sight!
Shattered glass littered blacktopped streets. In shadows, Death did wait.
He watched as gurneys now were filled.  He knew what was their fate.

While staff worked hard, their expertise could not revive one man.
Dead on arrival, the verdict, scrawled by a doctor’s hand.
I viewed this somehow from above. I knew that if I peered
into the face of this dead man I would see what I feared.

He was all too familiar. He lay so silently.
He’d died alone on Highway 6. That man was surely me!
I wasn’t finished  living yet. There was much more to do.
I’d always thought one day I’d find my way, God, back to You.

Consideration, I had none, for any earthly being.
I lived for me and me alone, wretched and unfeeling.
Dead now I would see my maker. I‘d face the judgment seat.
I’d answer for the things I’d done, accepting sin’s defeat.

I stood before the throne of God to answer for my sins
My head was bowed, my eyes were teared. Then Jesus entered in.
He looked at me, a sorry sight. He put His hand on mine.
He softly said return to earth for it was not my time.

Fully awake I found myself still lying in my bed.
How real it seemed, this vivid dream! I was alive, not dead!
I couldn’t wait ‘til morning broke, I fell there to my knees.
Asking forgiveness of My God, He heard my earnest pleas.

Remembering  my frightening dream, I knew that I must change
or be forever lost in sin, tormented and in pain.
I sought the answers in a book, filled with God’s holy word.
I found the more I read and prayed, it was God’s voice I heard.

I learned to listen as He spoke, to follow with my heart.
Now I live each day for Him. We’re never far apart.
My life is very different now, and I guess you could say
that it was because of a dream,  where I was DOA.