Have you ever felt a weight, like the world is too much to bear? Like there is so much to do, too many people that need help, yet you don't know how to help them. Do you ever feel as though the world around you is asleep and you need to shake it awake, yet no matter how hard you shake the world still sleeps? Do you ever wonder if, perhaps, you are as asleep as the rest of the world, and cannot wake yourself, cannot save yourself or anyone else no matter how hard you try.
So you try to swim through the fog, yet it is too thick for you to see or feel anything else. You remember again that you are asleep and try again to wake yourself, yet the task seems too daunting. You try to form words to cry for help, yet the words sound foreign as they hit your ears, and the world goes on with its slumber.
It seems almost impossible to break through this fog, through this slumber. The struggle to awake weighs on your soul until you feel that it might burst. You struggle to keep it in check, yet you silently hope that maybe it will burst. Maybe then the pain would end. Maybe then the slumbering world would awaken.
You slowly drag yourself through the fog, and as you awaken, you grow more and more aware of the pain piercing your soul. The more you attempt the ignore the pain, the more it throbs and thrives in your soul. You wonder if it is even worth the effort, but you are already committed so you again fight to find the surface of your slumber.
Only then do you finally break through. You see the sunlight, and remember why you had fallen into so great a slumber in the first place. You realize that you are dying from the intense pain. You could get help, but you don't know who to ask. You survey your surroundings, and suddenly an intense loneliness hits you like a title wave and you wonder if maybe, just maybe the slumber is better. At least then you don't have to face the constant pain and loneliness.
As the waves of pain crash over your soul, you finally find the courage to cry out. You summon all of your strength and shout with all your might. After your cry, the world sits in silence. One minute... Two minutes... Three minutes... Time drags on, and you hear no answer.
Finally, through the silence, you hear a faint whisper. As you struggle to make it out, it grows and you hear it "I'm here! Come to me!" it says. Hope floods your soul and you struggle through the slumbering souls. As you draw closer, and closer, the voice becomes more and more real.
You draw closer, and closer to the voice, and the fog begins to lift. Finally, through the mist you make out a figure. It beckons you closer, and you stand face to face. The man feels familiar to you, yet you have never seen him before. As you look into his eyes, you see he has fought the pain and fog, yet has not been touched by it.
He looks at you with tender compassion, and you know you are safe from the pain. You know that this man will not cause any more grief. As you look into his eyes, you realize that he is holding out his hand. That he is welcoming you. You feel safe, so you follow him, and he leads you to a quiet stream.
As you sit on cool boulders by the dancing spring, you feel at home. This man has the world in his eyes, and you think of the ancient tale of a Man dying on the cross to save His people, and you wonder if they could be true. The more you talk to this man, the more you feel your burdens lifted, and the more you realize that this is the Man who died so long ago. This is the Savior who bore his people's sins.
This Savior had become sin so that you could be free, and He was here right now, beside you. He is here, and only He can take away our slumber and apathy. Only He can awaken our slumbering world. Only if our church awakens to the truth, that He is coming back and that He will awaken these dry bones if only we ask. He is the only hope for our slumbering world.
