Rick's Story
So here we are driving along to Tsawassen ferry terminal. Will we make the express run? Not to be…we ended up on the mild run to Salt Spring Island. Now seems to be quite foggy at times. I’m falling asleep and waking up at what seems to be one too many stops along the way. Sullivan, my friend, the designated driver of our borrowed Dodge Caravan was occasionally talking, however I cannot recall at this time anything that would be of importance to this story.
After what seemed to be an extremely long time a 4-5 hour trip has taken nearly ½ day. Arriving at one of the three ferry terminals on the island, we pull off at the nearest restaurant, an A frame sort of building to grab a bite to eat. After eating, we quickly begin our trek across the island. Then quite suddenly as we round a bend in the road, I see an inlet of water surrounded by little cottages. The lights from their porches and windows reflecting off the mirror like surface of the water in the calmness of the night.
Suddenly chills run through my body, a whole rush of memories flooding my mind at once! I immediately said to Sullivan, “You are not going to believe this, but I know every bump and curve in this road and I’m going to tell you that I can prove it. I will tell you what is going to happen for the next three day before it happens!”
I thought to myself, I have never been on this island before in my life, I do not know anyone here. “Sullivan, I said, I am going to find where we are going and I will tell you where to turn and how to get where we are going because you are going to get lost. You will doubt what I am saying but you will find that what I am saying is correct and that I will predict correctly what will happen for the next three days and beyond when I am able to interpret these dreams further.”
I have been dreaming of these current events taking place now for many, many years.
“We are catering a wedding for several hundred people, we are running low on fuel and you are going to get lost trying to find where we are going! If we want to make it I need to help you!
Some time passes and I decide to give my friend Sullivan a description of what is ahead of us. “The place we are staying for a short time is on the left and there’s something to do with power lines criss-crossing the road and an old broken down car with a for sale sign in the window. Then there are two big iron gates at the entrance to the other place on the right hand side of the road. There are also vineyards to the side and a small tree. A house to the side with stairs going up to the left and even though there are phones on the island it is impossible to place a call. On the last day we will have to spend an extra two hours walking around the island cottages.”
In the darkness we are driving back and forth and I am trying to tell him “we need to turn around, we passed the turns…I know I’ve seen the power-lines.” Reluctantly he turns the van around and shortly we come to the lines crossing the road back and forth in a tight triangular formation. “Now if you go to the left near the car parked in the trees, this is where we are going.” He drives up the road to the left. Sure enough, this is where we are staying! Now to find the location of the place we are catering the wedding.
Again I voice my thoughts, “Sullivan, we need to go down the hill, make a left, then a right and then just follow the road. After all, I have found the first place.” So, we head off into the night again. Suddenly I realize that I need to correct Sullivan again. “Sullivan, we drove by the place again, we need to turn around and make a left.” Sullivan gives in and we drive and drive. Sullivan wants to turn back, but “please” I say, “keep pressing on, I know we will be there soon.” Just as we round the bend we see the iron gates looming up on the right. As we drive the few meters to the top of the hill, he stops beside a small tree, maybe 25 ft. high and as I get out and look around at the rolling glowing hills in the light of the moon, chills go down my spine…in the valley below there is a small cottage, which in my dream I always seem to be looking at through binoculars but I didn’t understand why. Off to the side is the vineyards and the house, but I don’t see the steps going to the left until the third day. It was then that we were invited to come up to the upper level and balcony of the home inside the main entrance. Then I saw the stairs, just as I had seen them in my dream.
On the third day we made it to the gas station at the other ferry terminal on the island. We stop for fuel and can see the ferry loading cars only meters away. “Should be no problem, we’ll make it” I say, “but Sullivan we haven’t walked around the island cottages yet.” The last car loads and we drive up to the first spot in line as the boat pulls away from the docks. “Can’t change what is to be. I said we’d be walking around the island. Can’t change the past or the future, but your choices now can change your destiny.
There are times when people tried to beat me down and I let them, I knocked myself down, then I became angry, and I said “bring it on!” I refuse to help knock me down, I will get up! I have now spent the last seven years from having a stroke trying to understand the meaning of it all. I told everyone I knew I cannot afford stress that that causes or contributes to stroke, heart attacks etc. So beginning now from this day forward, I will find the source of the stress and eliminate it and will keep an open mind and try to learn at least one thing every day, or help one person every day, then every day will be an exciting achievement. Amazingly, this has been a very true and positive experience.
Now we come to the culmination of all of this. On the 9th of November, 2010, it became crystal clear to me in a matter of moments.
So as in my dream, we were frantically driving around in the fog and darkness running low on fuel, my conclusion was it represented ‘low on time.’ The car for sale was the option to sell out, or walk away from everything and climb the road less traveled?
Arriving at the top, our friend showed up to our cabin. This was but a short stop, “take rest for yourselves, the morning will soon be here.” You have three days to rest and let people know it’s but a short time before the dawning of the third day. (It could be three years, nine years etc. I’m not predicting time, I am just telling my story) In Bible prophecy, three days = three years, and when three years are up you can climb the stairs for dinner with all in your house who are waiting. The vineyard and trees from Eden, which Adam ate from are here, and the mansions God has prepared for us to enjoy…and just think, we can also build our own mansion as well!
This is the conclusion in my quest to figure out what it all meant. What was one required to be, and can we actually obtain happiness or fulfillment on this planet? This could be different for each person; however, some of the basic needs apply to everyone.
Being thrown into the middle of the darkness and fog…the only way I would ever find a way out of it was to hate it. The dogs attacked from all directions and I said “bring it on, the angrier you make me the more determined I am. They offered me trinkets and toys and shiny bobbles, I threw them back I do not want this junk, it does nothing for me. Cold and lifeless warrantees expire. Now the dogs are angry. They treat me as a leper, barely glancing my way. My friends are not the same persons I thought they would be. I realized then how much I could not stand this disgusting cold and dreary planet. Everywhere I looked was dirt, hate, destruction and garbage to be burned.
So if there is one word or one thing I can do to help even one person make or choose a better way today, then it was all worth it!!!
Johnny Cash was singing a song just before he passed away; one line goes, “You can have it all, my empire of dirt.”
If you want some betterment in your life and want to find some answers go to these websites…
I see everyone rushing around every day. No one seems to really know why or where they are going, and if you actually stop and pay attention, you will notice that everyone is miserable. No matter how they appear to be there is an air of indifference and depression. You can see it in their eyes. It’s a cold, dreary and dark planet we are living on.
All of the disasters and wars, the crooked leaders, lack of respect for life and greed on such a global scale so as to nearly bring the global economy to it’s knees. If only we cared for our neighbors, there would be less cold, hungry, sick and dying. All can feel the chill…this is a global pandemic. Forget global warming, it’s closer to global freeze!
Here are links for maps and other pictures and places on the island.
http://mapofsaltspring.com/mapofsaltspring.pdf
