DO 2408 6/87

1. PTL! TYJ! I just woke up from a very happy dream about the Eastern Mediterranean, which has very many happy memories for Mama & me, mostly in Cyprus, but Haifa as well. It was really a strange dream & I have no idea why I had it‚ except it made me feel good & cheered me up! We have very many happy memories of that area from the time we spent there together as we sailed from Venice to Rhodes to Larnaca to Haifa back in 1970 when we were fleeing the United States & exploring Europe & the Mideast before the Family started pioneering Europe. We were the first pioneers, praise the Lord!

2. Well anyhow, in this dream we were on a small island just a few miles offshore from the eastern end of Cyprus, which is where we spent most of our time there, in Famagusta. There was a little string of islands between this island & the shore of Cyprus, & there was a tall tower on this island, sort of like the old–fashioned watchtowers, quite tall.

3. I was practicing sky-diving from the top of the tower without the benefit of a parachute, & it seemed that I could really sail a long ways! I had climbed this tower, & I had practiced this, it seemed, several times, & finally I sailed to this little larger island about halfway to Cyprus. I was doing so well I thought, "The next time I'm going to see if I can make it all the way to Cyprus!"

4. So I climbed the tower again & I really leaped this time & sailed away! I was really doing good! I passed the larger island that was about halfway, & I kept on going, & I finally saw that I was just a little ways offshore from Cyprus & I was coming down pretty low. I thought, "Well, even if I land in the water, I can swim the rest of the way. I can try my long-distance swimming on my back!"—The leisurely swimming that I practice a lot in case I ever get lost on a South Sea Island or dropped in the ocean for any reason!

5. I kept coming closer & closer to the water, but then all of a sudden right on the shore I saw the patio of a restaurant with a fence around it, a gate, & I thought, "If I could just make it over that fence I've got it made!" The fence was right on the edge of the water to keep the people out of the restaurant that didn't belong there I guess, fishermen or something. I just really tried with all my might to sail all the way & I got over the fence & landed right on my feet, just nicely on that flagstone patio, to the cheers of all the people! I made it! PTL! I thought‚ "Boy, now that's really something to write home about!"

6. Then all of a sudden I realised you weren't there because I had to fly alone, & I began to get homesick for you! That's the first time I felt a little bit sad, because I was there all alone. Even though all the people were very friendly & cheering me & applauding & I had sailed all the way to Cyprus, I missed you! XXX!—And that's when I woke up! PTL!

7. I don't know that it has any particular meaning, except it was really thrilling! It was almost like practicing flying, like it was during the Millennium & we were learning how to fly! I didn't have to bat my arms or anything, I just spread my arms like wings & sailed like an eagle! I just soared, really soared! I didn't even have to put my arms out in front of me like Superman does when he flies, I just spread my arms out like the wings of an eagle! And that's what the Lord said: "They shall mount up on wings as an eagle!"—Isa.40:31.

8. So, it's coming! It's really going to happen! It sure was fun, I really enjoyed it! We won't even have to worry about coming down then, thank the Lord, but we will have to do a little practicing, I guess, to practice directions & sailing & how to come down into a soft landing. I came down to a nice soft landing, landed right on my feet in this nice restaurant. And I was thinking, "Oh, that's going to be a nice place to eat!" Then all of a sudden I realised you weren't with me & I missed you & I was lonesome & thought it wouldn't be so nice to eat there without you! XXX! I love you!

9. Even if I could fly, Honey, I would not be very happy without you! So you've got to learn how to fly, Honey! I'll help you! It's going to be quite an experience in the Millennium when we first really learn how to fly!

10. I imagine when we're going up to meet the Lord in the air in the Rapture, it's just going to be like little particles of dust drawn up by a magnet! We won't have very much to do with how we're flying or what direction we're going or how to get there, the Lord will manage the whole thing! But then after we get to the Holy City & start flying around on our own in our own little trips, I imagine it's going to take a little experience & a little practice to really learn how to manage it!

11. I've had other dreams about flying, as almost everybody does, & I'm always beating my arms real hard like wings, trying to stay aloft, & it's difficult, really hard work! But this was just beautiful, just clear sailing! I was just sailing like a sail plane or like a glider or a hang–glider‚ only it seemed to be totally effortless. I kept my arms spread & just sailed! I could swerve one way, or I could lean over the other way & swerve that way‚ & it was just thrilling, exhilarating, delightful, exciting!

12. Then on this last try I made it all the way to Famagusta! It must have been Famagusta because it was a city, & that's the only city on the Eastern shore. It was a nice little typical Greek shoreline patio restaurant & nobody seemed to be particularly surprised that I just flew in & landed in their patio!

13. It was really thrilling! It was an exhilarating feeling! I can't express it, it's just wonderful, like being free at last! I was no longer bound by Earth's gravity. But I still had to learn how to manage it & how to curve & swerve & soar & glide.—Kind of like learning how to hang-glide but not nearly as difficult. All I did was climb the tower & then I just jumped off & spread my arms & sailed away, & came down finally to a nice soft landing in Cyprus!

14. I did think about maybe if I couldn't make it all the way I might have quite a ways to swim, but I made it‚ thank the Lord! Of course‚ I don't think we'll have to worry in the Millennium as to whether we'll be able to make it, because we'll have levitation powers & be able to take off & sail away into the sky without the benefit of any tower or anything like that. We'll have powers instead of towers! PTL! All the towers will have fallen down flat already!—Isa.30:25.

15. Anyhow, it was a very cheerful, exciting‚ encouraging dream & made me wake up very happy! I'm looking forward to the wonderful day in the Millennium when we can fly! PTL! I'm going to fly around a lot of those places we've been before, Mama! We won't have to have any luggage or baggage or tickets or passports or visas or anything, we'll own the World & we can just take off, I believe hand-in-hand & fly together!

16. I don't know why I left you behind, but I think you probably were scared to try it & thought I'd better try it first. (Maria: Maybe you didn't allow me to because you thought it was too dangerous.) Yes, well, it must not have been the Millennium or I wouldn't have been worried about it. But anyhow‚ it was exciting in my dream to be learning to fly! PTL! Hallelujah! TYL!

17. Maybe the title of this little vignette could be "Learning to Fly!" Someday we can fly, & I don't know that we'll really have to learn very much, but I guess it's going to take a little experience & managing to learn how to float down to a soft landing etc., & how to take off. That's the first thing you learn when you're learning to fly an airplane.

18. Well, actually the first thing you learn is how to fly when you're already up in the air! Like when that businessman who sold airplanes in Pennsylvania was trying to teach me how to fly, the pilot takes off for you‚ & then he turns the stick over to you up in the air, like he did to me, & I flew all the way from Pittsburgh to Alliance, Ohio & back!—After he had taken off & landed the plane, which took off from Pittsburgh Airport & flew to Alliance, Ohio Airport, because he was selling some plane to somebody. He handled the take-offs & the landings & he only turned the stick & the foot pedals over to me when we got up to our flying altitude.

19. He said, "You see that smokestack over there? Fly toward that, that's where we're going, in that direction!" So he taught me how to do all this on the way to Alliance, Ohio. Our flying altitude was not very high, you could see buildings & everything clearly down below. I think it must have been only a couple thousand feet. Planes didn't fly very high in those days, especially a little small plane like this. It was a Tailor-Craft plane.

20. But the thing that was scary was when we got up the second time on the way back, he said, "See that smokestack way over there in the skyline? You fly toward that, & that's on the way to Pittsburgh!"—And he curled up over in the corner of the plane & went to sleep! He had tested me on the way to Alliance, & on the way back, once we got up there, he turned the controls over to me & went to sleep! I was just absolutely shocked, but I didn't want to let him know that I was scared. I think I was only about 19 then. It was about an hour's flight! (Maria: He must have had a lot of confidence in you!) Well, I always suspected that he just did that to test me & he probably winked one eye open once in awhile to see how I was doing! Of course‚ he could feel the motion of the plane, how it was doing.

21. You steered the plane with what they called a stick in those days. They didn't have steering wheels in those small craft‚ they had a straight stick like a gearshift that you steered with, & that operated the wing flaps. You pushed the stick to the left & you gradually curved to the left.—Or you pushed it to the right & you gradually curved to the right.

22. But the thing that was hard for me to learn was operating the tail fins, because you had to operate those with pedals under your feet, & it's kind of like patting your head & rubbing your stomach at the same time! I'd been used to driving a car, & of course you only used your feet for clutching, braking & things like that in those days‚ & the accelerator. But here you had to use your feet & synchronise your feet with your hand stick, because when you turned to the right‚ you leaned to the right, & that was easy‚ but you had to push one pedal & ease off on the other pedal to make sure that your tail fin turned the right direction as you went. If you were flying level, all you had to worry about was your tail fin turning this way. You pushed the stick to the right & you pushed on your right-hand pedal to make the tail fin turn slightly to the right so that you'd curve around like that. The stick operated the ailerons on the trailing edge of the wings. You lowered the flap on the left wing so it would rise‚ & you raised the flap on the right wing so it would go down, so it curved to the right. It's a little bit complicated.

23. He said, "Dave, you're just a born flyer! You just give me a few hours & you'd be flying very well!" But this was so much easier flying from this tower to Cyprus, I just jumped off & sailed away, & finally came down to a nice soft landing on my feet in that beautiful little Greek restaurant patio right on the shore!—And I'm sure it's going to be a lot easier than either one of those to fly in Heaven‚ thank the Lord, & on Earth when we come back! PTL!

24. So God bless you & here's to you & your learning to fly along with me some day! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Amen! Amen? (Maria: Amen!) Let's look forward to it! TTL! I'm really looking forward to some of those things! Praise God!—In Jesus' name, amen!