The dream king

Have you read 'The Dream King” by Will Ford and Matt Lockett? Listening to the radio a few days ago, I heard their story, and had to get the book.

If you enjoy autobiographies, you will love their story of how God brought them together on a project to pray for healing racial division in our country.

Will Ford's ancestors were slaves in Louisiana. As Christians they prayed for freedom. Since their slave owner did not allow prayer, they prayed in the middle of the night in a barn.

The ancestors of Will Ford took a large cast iron kettle and turned it upside down on the dirt floor of the barn. Then they raised the kettle just off the ground and put rocks under it to create a narrow opening.

By gathering around the kettle and praying into the narrow opening, their prayers were muffled. Will's ancestors knew that they would probably never know freedom themselves, so they prayed for freedom for their children and grandchildren.

The kettle was passed from Harriet Locket to Nora Locket to William Ford, Sr. to William Ford, Jr. to our author, William Ford III.

Matt Lockett grew up in Kentucky. His father died unexpectedly in January of 2004.

After the funeral, Matt went through what he calls divine discontent. He asked the big questions like: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? What story am I supposed to be telling?

Like his father, Matt bemoaned that he knew little of his family history. Pursuing the family genealogy, also like his father, Matt kept running into roadblocks, until…

In September of 2004 the strangest thing happened. Matt had a dream. This was not a dream inspired from eating late night pizza!

But a dream that he recalled for days, and he finally shared with his wife. In the dream he meets a man. A man that he had never met. The man's name was Lou Engle.

Through a series of contacts, Matt Lockett contacts Lou Engle and tells him the dream. Mr. Engle says, 'That is very interesting. You dreamed exactly what God has just sent us to do in Washington, D.C. We are going to do a conference in January (2005). I think you should come here because God might have something for you there.”

Matt and his daughter Taylor attend the prayer meeting held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. After the prayer meeting the group reconvenes in a church where Matt and Taylor hear Will Ford tell the story of his prayer kettle.

When Will Ford tells the lineage of his prayer kettle, Taylor turns to her father and says, 'He just said our name.”

Through an amazing series of events, namely God's providence, Will Ford and Matt Lockett discover that they are related. The Lockett ancestral farm in Virginia was the site of the last Civil War battle!

Hanging on one of the inside walls of the home, is the Lockett family genealogy. Some of the ancestors migrated to Alabama, some to Kentucky, and some to Louisiana.

Both families have long histories related to slavery and prayer for abolition. Today both families are still praying for those most marginalized at the edges of society.

The God of the Bible is a God who gives and interprets dreams (see passages such as Genesis 15, 37, 40, 41; Daniel 2, 4; and Matthew 1). Of course, any dream must be filtered through God's Word. Many dreams are of the late night pizza variety.

The Dream King is a book worth getting for your own family and church library. Read it, and keep on praying for God's kingdom to come.