Last night, I had an odd dream. That, in itself, isn’t unusual for me. I’ve had some crazy dreams in my life…

When I was a kid, I had a recurring dream where I was He-Man and Skeletor was going to boil my parents (who were in the form of sheep) in a vat of boiling oil, and I had to save them… I never got there before waking up.

A few years ago, I had a vivid dream where I was being chased through a warehouse by a were-shark (yeah, half man half shark… Kind of like a mermaid, only backwards… And a shark) and I was running for my life because, in true were-animal fashion, if it bit me, I’d become one too. I’m pretty sure I woke up right after punching it in the face. That’s what you’re supposed to do to sharks when they attack right?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

In last night’s dream, there was a dragon. Not a big nasty, Harry Potter type dragon, but instead it was a slightly cartoonish (yet still ferocious) dragon. Regardless, in my typical dream fashion, it was trying to kill me. It was probably 9 or 10 feet tall, because it hid behind a house at one point, and while I wasn’t fighting it head on, I wasn’t running from it like that were-shark. Again, odd for one of my dreams. I’m typically doing one or the other.

Then, out of nowhere, friends started showing up. People from my life, people on TV (like Mike Holmes from Holmes on Homes… Thank God, too, because that guy is huge!), and strangers alike showed up to help me. They fought the dragon inside and outside of the house where we were, but I kept in my holding pattern. Not running away from the house, but not fighting the dragon, either.

Then the dragon flew from the back of the house to the front, where I was, and roared, but was distracted by a parade coming down the street. It flew to a car in the parade and got ready to attack when Mike Holmes and a few other guys chased after it and defeated it. I ran there quickly, gave high fives all around, and looked down at the small, bloody, pathetic, dying dragon lying on the asphalt, and tore off one of the spines from it’s back (it kind of looked like a Stegosaurus’ back) to remember that day by, as did many of the others.

I heard emergency sirens coming closer. I assumed they were police, but I never saw the cars… I woke up.

As I lay awake in bed, going back over the events in the dream, I couldn’t help but think that this particular dream held some significance, because it wasn’t like my usual dreams. And as I was getting ready for the day, it hit me. The dragon was sin.

In my book, In Case of Armageddon, Break Glass, I talk about “The Beast” in the Book of Revelation representing sin. So, it would make sense that the beast in my dream would represent sin as well. Add to that the fact that in Revelation, Satan is represented by a dragon, and my interpretation of my dream makes a lot of sense:

I can’t run from nor fight the sin in my life. Not alone, anyway. I need to surround myself with people capable of helping me defeat it – accountability partners, if you will. Yes, I have a life group whom I’m incredibly grateful for, and they were many of the people helping me fight the dragon in my dream.

But aside from Mike Holmes, I never saw the faces of the people who actually defeated the dragon. All I know is that they were all men. I’m in need of an accountability group solely dedicated to being 100% open, honest, and dedicated to helping each other live the way Christ lived, and I’m going to seek that out as soon as possible. (Though, I doubt Mike Holmes will be a part of it, I don’t think he lives anywhere around here…)

Who around you can you bring in close to help defeat your dragons, and likewise help defeat theirs? Can you find the time to meet with a group of 5-6 people, once a week, and share everything? I’m talking everything. Even the deepest, darkest things you swore to yourself you’d never tell anyone.

When you build that group, you’ll find that together, you can conquer sin and live the Jesus way more easily than you can alone. It’s time to build that group.