The Goal

A couple nights ago, I was having a vision. In the middle of it, I was suddenly running onto a soccer field. I thought, "This is random and out of place." I ran across the field and almost left it, when I saw a giant man on the field walking towards me. He was wearing a green soccer uniform.

I turned around to meet him. He had the biggest shoulders I had ever seen, and I was startled by how powerful he was. I asked him who he was and he said, "Mercy. Mercy and forgiveness."

I thought that this meant he was Jesus, but was not sure. He kicked a soccer ball at me, and asked me to play. We moved to the center of the field, and I started trying to kick the ball past him to hit the goal, but that was impossible. He would get low to the ground, bending towards me with his arms and legs spread wide, moving back and forth with incredible speed. A few times, I would finally get the ball past him. Then suddenly, the goal I was aiming for would be switched to the one on the other side of the field, so I would have to turn around and try to get past him again.

I began to get frustrated, and had already asked him why I was playing against him. It felt really wrong, and I thought for sure I should be playing with him instead. But no one else was on the field.

Finally, I decided to kick the ball up in the air, jump as high as I could, and kick the ball over Mercy's head, into the goal I was then aiming towards.

I did this, and he let me do this (I know he could have stopped me). The ball flew into the goal, and I immediately felt defeated and unaccomplished still. I did not feel like a winner.

Mercy watched me and then asked, "What did you just learn?"

I stood there for a long time thinking. I had no idea what the point of this was, and really wanted to get back to what I was doing before I came across this soccer field.

I thought over the game from beginning to end, how Mercy was able to move so quickly to stop me from moving past him and getting to my goal, how my goal would immediately change and therefore be even further away the few times I did get past him.

I then started to wonder WHY the goal kept changing back and forth, and why this happened ONLY when I moved past Mercy. This is when it hit me.

"YOU'RE THE GOAL!"

Mercy nodded his head and burst into smiles when I said this, waiting for me to continue.

"You are the goal, my goal! You ARE Jesus! You were not trying to keep me from my goal by moving back and forth. You were moving back and forth to try to make it easier for me to hit you! You wanted me to win! We were not playing against each other after all, it was only my view of how the game is to be played that made me think that."

There was suddenly a soccer ball a few feet in front of me. As I raced to kick it, Mercy smiled and hunkered low to the ground, spreading his arms and legs wide. I knew now that he was welcoming the ball, not blocking it. I kicked it and it flew into his stomach. A loud DING DING DING! rang through the field. This time, I felt like I had won.


God started running this song through my head yesterday. Enjoy!