One night I dreamt of a masked man pursuing me down a dark and deserted street. I ran too fast to slow down, even when I saw a warning sign that said the street was about to end. And then the street dropped off like a cliff.

I fell screaming the name of Jesus, and my body righted itself. I landed on my feet. The dream was warning me about something, but I didn’t recognize anything awry in my life, so I put it out of my mind.

A few months later I landed an Internet job opportunity that appeared legitimate. Raising funds for life support systems in third world countries was the goal of the organization, and the headhunter was looking for facilitators to handle financial transactions between his organization and potential sponsors. We corresponded for a few months, and finally he emailed me to inform me a sponsor would be sending a check. He instructed me to cash the check at a certain bank, take out my fee for handling the transaction and send the rest on to him.

A check came in the mail in my name. I took it, unsigned, to a cash store instead of the bank they suggested after my daughter told me the cash store has an authenticity machine for checks. I waited a long time and began to feel that something wasn’t right. The next thing I know I saw a policeman come into the store and approach me. He asked me several questions about the check and my job position. He told me the check number had already been used and that the check was a fraud. I was arrested for uttering a forged document and spent an uncomfortable night in jail.

While I lay on the cold bench that night in jail, the Lord reminded me about the dream that I had months before. I was in the middle of the dream and trouble came to me, but I did not heed the warning signs and fell off the cliff. I had failed the test!

I was found not guilty, an incident that should never have happened. If the dream had come back to me when I received the check, I would have recognized it as a trap and torn the check up. Now I look at every sign when it comes to making decisions. I have learned not to overlook the small details as well as the big ones. Even if signs or dreams do not make sense to me, or I tell myself, "It was just a dream," they are God’s message to me that I am heading for trouble and had better heed the warning signs sent to guide me.

Catharine Joy Parks