Think Again!

20 • Think Again: Transformation That Yields a Return on God’s Investment

We hadn’t been married long when Cathy felt something bumping her side. She woke and saw me raising and lowering my arms in unison, and said, “What are you doing?!” Without waking up, I responded, in between deep breaths, “Pumping . . . iron.” I immediately realized I had been doing bench presses in my sleep. I had no idea how long this had been going on. It was only when Cathy spoke that I became aware of the fictional world in which I was living. A few months later, we moved to Wichita, Kansas where we both went to graduate school. It was a cold winter night, and being college students who were unable to afford to heat the apartment at night, we relied on many layers of blankets to keep us warm. Feeling a cold draft, Cathy woke up to see me slowly pulling the covers off the bed. She said, “What are you doing?!” I abruptly whispered, “Shhhhhh. There’s a snake in the bed.” She said, “You are dreaming again, give me the blankets back and go to sleep.” Cathy made several earnest attempts to assure me of our safety before I allowed her to have the covers back. It seemed so real! Some years later, we moved back to California. Cathy had one of those feelings people have when they sense someone is in the room. She switched on her bedside light to find me standing in the corner of the bedroom in my swim trunks, with my hands on my hips. She asked her oft-repeated question, “What are you doing?!” As she spoke, I woke up, looked around for a moment and replied, “I have no idea.” The funny part of this story is the amount of effort this must have taken on my part. My swim trunks were hidden away for the winter, so that means I got up in my sleep, rifled through my clothes until finding them, changed into them from my warm pajamas, and stood in the corner of the chilly bedroom. I may have stood there all night had Cathy not rescued me from my misadventure.